Paytm board shuffle continues, Neeraj Arora rejoins
Premium- Mukul Arora, partner at Paytm’s early investor Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners) has also resigned from the company’s board of directors with effect from 7 July
Benglauru: More than three years after quitting IPO-bound One97 Communications Ltd, the parent of Paytm, Neeraj Arora has been reappointed as an additional director to the company’s reshuffled board of directors, according to company filings with the ministry of corporate affairs.
Besides the reinstatement of Arora, who was formerly the business head for WhatsApp Inc., Mukul Arora, partner at Paytm’s early investor Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners) has resigned from the company’s board of directors with effect from 7 July, 2021.
Replacing him is Elevation Capital’s operating partner and chief financial officer, Vivek Mathur, who has now been appointed as an alternate director to Paytm’s board.
According to media reports, Arora, who served on Paytm’s board between 2015 and 2018, had reportedly resigned, after founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma had publicly criticised WhatsApp's unified payments interface (UPI)-based payment model.
Arora and Mathur’s appointment comes just weeks after OCL reshuffled its board, earlier this month, ahead of its planned November-end public debut, replacing Chinese nationals with Indian and US domicile.
Changes included Douglas Lehman Feagin, senior vice president, at Ant Group, joining Paytm’s board and replacing Ant Group chairman and chief executive officer, Jing Xiandong.
The company also appointed Ash Lilani, managing partner at Saama Capital, as independent director to its board. Michael Yuen Jen Yao from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Todd Anthony Combs, investment manager at Berkshire Hathaway, retired by rotation from OCL’s board on 30 June, as per the ROC filings.
Both Yao and Combs were appointed to One97’s board of directors in 2019.
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On Monday, Paytm got shareholder approval to raise up to ₹12,000 crore (or roughly $1.6 billion) through a fresh issue of shares. Mint reported that as a part of the fresh issue, the company will be raising $268 million (or roughly ₹2000 crore), as a part of its pre-IPO fundraise.
The primary issue is solely to infuse growth capital in the 11-year-old entity, people familiar with the matter had told Mint earlier.
Paytm’s long-time investors, Softbank and ANT Financial are expected to offload at least ₹8600 crore worth of shares (or roughly $1.1 billion), as a part of the company’s listing process, Mint reported citing sources.
Now more details on the final issue size that Paytm is looking to float, will be clear in the company’s draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), which it is expected to release this week.
In the draft prospectus, the company is also expected to announce its nine-member leadership team, including Madhur Deora, president and group chief financial officer; Vikas Garg, CFO; Renu Satti, head of offline payments; Bhavesh Gupta, head of Paytm’s lending business; and Harinderpal Singh Takhar, CEO, Paytm Labs.
During Monday’s EGM, shareholders also approved a proposal that founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma would no longer be identified as the company’s ‘promoter’. This is to comply with Securities and Exchange Board of India rules requiring promoters of listed firms to have at least 20% of post-issue capital.
Sharma currently holds close to 14.61% of OCL’s total paid-up equity capital, and will continue to be the chairman, managing director and chief executive officer of OCL.
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