Vedanta Faces C-Suite Exodus Amid Anil Agarwal’s Bold Demerger and Debt Restructuring Moves

Mumbai: Vedanta Group, a major player in the metals and mining industry, has recently seen two more top executives leave the company. This comes at a crucial time as the group undergoes a big reorganization and debt restructuring process.

Krishnamohan Narayan, Deputy CEO of Hindustan Zinc Ltd, and Shrikant Saboo, Director of Group Commercial and Marketing at Vedanta Ltd, have both resigned, according to sources. Narayan, who joined Hindustan Zinc in April 2023 after a long career at BASF, shared on LinkedIn that he is taking a career break. Saboo, who joined Vedanta in August 2022, is currently serving his notice period. Neither Narayan nor Saboo could be reached for comment.

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Over the past year, more than six senior leaders have left various companies under the Vedanta Group. The exits are happening as the company works to reduce its debt. While the executives’ departures may not be directly linked to the restructuring, experts suggest that if they played important roles, it could slow down the process.

Consultants say that the number of senior-level exits at Vedanta is unusual, especially for a large company in the mining sector. For example, John Slaven, who became CEO of Vedanta Aluminium in October 2023, left last month. Sonal Shrivastava, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Vedanta Ltd since June 2023, also left last year after the company announced its plan to split into six different businesses.

Other notable exits include Sanjeev Gemawat, who was the Group General Counsel, and Omar Davis, who was in charge of the parent company’s strategy. Davis had been helping Vedanta restructure its debt before leaving in April 2024. Cairn India, a subsidiary of Vedanta, no longer lists Nick Walker as CEO.

A Vedanta spokesperson explained that employee turnover is normal in any industry and said that the group has around 300 senior leaders. They noted that the departure of 4-5 leaders in a year is normal and should not be seen as unusual.

Returning Leaders

Vedanta has about 13,000 employees and 84,000 contract workers. The group follows a pyramid structure, where only 2-5% of employees are in top leadership roles. The company is known for offering competitive pay to its senior executives. Despite some departures, Vedanta has seen the return of Ajay Goel, who rejoined the group as CFO in October 2023 after a brief stint at Byju’s. Goel had originally joined Vedanta in 2021. Between Goel’s departure and return, Sonal Shrivastava briefly held the CFO role.

Omar Davis, a former Bank of America banker, was responsible for helping Vedanta tackle its debt crisis. Under his leadership, the company restructured $3.2 billion in bonds, delaying payment deadlines to ease its debt burden. However, Davis left the company in the middle of this strategy.

Debt and Demerger Plans

Vedanta is currently splitting into six different listed companies: Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Oil and Gas, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Steel and Ferrous Materials, Vedanta Base Metals, and Vedanta Ltd.

At the same time, its parent company, Vedanta Resources, is working to reduce its debt, which stood at $5.6 billion at the end of March 2024. The company cut its debt by $1.6 billion in the last fiscal year and plans to reduce it by another $1 billion in the current fiscal year, according to S&P Global. S&P also upgraded Vedanta Resources’ credit rating from CCC+ to B-, indicating improved financial stability.

Most of Vedanta Ltd’s and Hindustan Zinc’s earnings are used to pay dividends, which are then used to manage the debt at Vedanta Resources. The company also raised $500 million by selling a 2.6% stake in Vedanta Ltd earlier this year. S&P estimates that Vedanta’s efforts could reduce its interest expenses to $550-600 million by the end of this financial year, down from $800-850 million in FY24.