The Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilisers (MCF) board on Monday made several key changes in the management appointing independent director Arun Duggal as its new Chairman, ending the 25-year reign of Vijay Mallya as the head of the fertiliser company.
At a board meeting on Monday, the board also appointed Zuari Group’s nominee and board director, Suresh Krishnan as the managing director of the company, a regulatory filing said. He will takeover as MD from January 1, 2016. Krishnan is the current MD of Zuari Global.
Duggal is the non-executive chairman and independent director of ICRA and is on the board of ITC, DishTV and Jubilant Energy.
The board also appointed Naveen Kapoor as an alternate director for Akshay Poddar and VS Venkataraman as an additional director. Kapil Mehan has also been appointed director on the board and is a nominee of Zuari Group.
Deepak Anand, a close associate of Mallya, will resign as Managing Director on December 31 this year, paving the way for Krishnan to take over his post.
The 11-board member also consists of Mallya’s step mother Ritu Mallya, who was nominated to the board after Mallya resigned as the chairman and board member in December last year.
Mallya was forced to step down after certain financial institutions (lenders) said that they will not be in a position to extend even working capital for the company, if he continues to be on the board.
In May this year, Saroj Poddar’s Zuari Group acquired an additional 36.56 per cent stake in MCF taking its total stake to 53.03 per cent. The UB Group holds about 22 per cent stake.
Last year, Zuari Group and Pune-based Deepak Fertilisers were in the race to acquire a majority stake in MCF.
The Mangalore-based fertiliser company was bought by Mallya in 1990 after the Karnataka Government put it up for sale.
The total capacity of the plant is about 4 lakh tonnes of urea and 3 lakh tonnes of phosphatic fertilisers. MCF is also the only chemical fertiliser plant in Karnataka.