MUMBAI: Former Star India sports head Nitin Kukreja has joined iQuest Enterprises as its chief executive officer. Kukreja had left Star in March this year.

IQuest is an enterprise of Nimmagadda Prasad, the former owner of the Maa TV group, who has multiple business interests ranging from infrastructure to sports. It is pertinent to note that Star India took over Maa TV of which he was chairman for around Rs 2,300 crore in 2015.

Prasad's Iquest reportedly has actor Nagarjuna Rao Akkineni, Allu Arvind and Ram Charan Tej Konidala listed as directors according to corporate filings. But newspaper reports have suggested that Sachin Tendulkar and Prasad's former business associate in Maa TV actor Chiranjeevi too are involved in the company as a partner. Kurkreja will have his hands full managing the sports business for iQuest though it has investments in other sectors as it owns teams across different sports:

• Kerala Blasters, a team in the Indian Super League.
• Badminton team, Benguluru Blasters, in the Premier Badminton League
• Pro Kabaddi League team, Tamil Thalaivas.

As the sports head at Star Sports, Kukreja was instrumental in the addition of mega sports IPs such as the Indian Super League and Pro Kabaddi League to the Star portfolio.

Kukreja, a qualified chartered account, prior to his long stint with Star India has been an investment banker and served in private equity divisions of Morgan Stanley and the Audit and Assurance division of PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has also been an advisor for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Khelo India programme.