Adani Power CEO may join US-based PE fund

Ravi Sharma, outgoing chief executive officer (CEO) of Adani Power, is learnt to be joining a New York-based private equity fund focused on the energy sector.

According to an investment banker close to the development, the fund has assets of over $10 billion and plans to invest over $1 billion in acquiring renewable energy projects in South Asia and Latin America.

Sharma is to head the fund’s Indian operations, said the banker.

“The fund will be backing him to do brownfield acquisitions in solar, wind and biomass projects,” he said.

Sharma, who resigned from the company recently and is to exit at the end of this month, declined to comment on his future move.

Adani Power chairman Gautam Adani, had a good word for the parting honcho. “Under his guidance, the company performed extremely well,” he said, but added that exiting was his own decision, “based on personal priorities”.

Adani did not say where Sharma was headed.

Incidentally, the market has been rife with speculation over the exit of Sharma, whose pay packet is said to have been the highest among industry CEOs.

Before joining Adani Power, he was the CEO of Datacom, the Videocon-promoted mobile services provider.

Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot also endorsed Sharma’s top billing saying he was an “expert in developing new projects and organisations. He has the calibre to start or take up big initiatives.”