BackNSE constitutes search panel to pick new CEO; IPO stays on track
NSE may file documents for the IPO, an offer for sale, by 20 December
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The drama surrounding the sudden and surprising resignation of Chitra Ramkrishna, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd, on Friday will not affect the timeline for the exchange’s planned initial public offering (IPO), three people familiar with the development said.
The exchange may file documents for the IPO by 20 December, these three said on condition of anonymity.
“Twenty-three per cent of shares held by NSE shareholders have been tendered so far to be offloaded during the offer for sale (OFS). The size of the IPO is likely to be below 25%," said one of the three.
Ramakrishna’s resignation last week, following chief operating officer Subramanian Anand’s in October, has raised questions in some quarters about the fate of the IPO.
“The entire IPO plans and associated processes are being monitored by the board," added a second person, who works for an organization that is a shareholder in NSE. “Most of the private equity and foreign investors who have been invested in the company for seven to eight years are tendering a portion of their holding," this person said.
An NSE spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Mint had reported on 16 November that with a dilution of a stake up to 25%, NSE could raise around Rs10,000 crore. This would make it the largest public listing since Coal India Ltd’s Rs15,200 crore IPO in October 2010.
Separately, the board of NSE has set up a search panel that includes Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra Group, and Usha Thorat, ex-deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India, to identify a new managing director and CEO, the stock exchange said in a statement. The other two members of the search panel are NSE board members T.V. Mohandas Pai, former chief financial officer of Infosys Ltd, and Dinesh Kanabar, former deputy CEO of KPMG in India and CEO of Dhruva Advisors Llp. Pai and Kanabar are public interest directors at NSE.
According to norms laid down by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), stock exchanges are required to form a committee for the selection of chief executives. Such committee needs to have one exchange representative, one public interest director and two outside experts.
"The selection committee, after following the due process, will recommend the names to the nomination and remuneration committee and the board of NSE for appropriate decision," the exchange added in the statement.
As part of the process, NSE will have to issue ads seeking candidates in the next two weeks. The board of the exchange will have to submit a final candidate to Sebi for approval within 60 days.
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