Lavasa loses second CEO in six months

Leadership turmoil continues to trouble Lavasa Corp, a unit of infrastructure major Ajit Gulabchand's Hindustan Construction Co (HCC). Industry sources told dna that S Narayan, who took over as president and chief executive officer of Lavasa Corp in December 2014, has called it quits.

This is the second stint of Narayan at Lavasa -- he was president of the company during its inception from 2003 to 2005. He is also promoter of Integron Management Services, which is a facility management services company.

This is the second major blow (in a span of six months) for Lavasa Corp that is developing a private planned city spread across 25,000 acre near Pune. In November last year, hospitality veteran Uttam Dave had quit as president and CEO within two months of assuming office.

Taking over from S Narayan will be Rajgopal Nogja who is the group chief operating officer for HCC Group companies and a whole-time director on the HCC Board. Nogja, who was also appointed president of Lavasa Corp in 2007, oversees the functioning of the various group companies.

When contacted, a Lavasa Corp spokesperson said, "Your information is incorrect as S Narayan has not quit Lavasa Corp Ltd (LCL). He is taking on a new role within LCL to focus more on strategy development and work closely with the senior management in charting growth initiatives for the company, which include strategic business partnerships."

On Nogja, the spokesperson added that, he as the HCC Group COO, has been supervising LCL's operations at the group level. "Now, Nogja will be devoting more time to LCL to support the company in expanding its connect with the financial and business communities, gearing up for our impending IPO," the Lavasa Corp spokesperson said.

Lavasa has been looking to raise funds to the tune of Rs 750 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). According to media reports, the IPO is likely to hit the market in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal.

"LCL received Sebi approval in November 2014, and we are looking at entering the primary markets in the next couple of months, depending on the market conditions," the Lavasa Corp spokesperson said.

Lavasa management has been working on taking the company public for sometime now. In fact, its IPO was scheduled to hit the market sometime in last fiscal, however the plans had to be shelved owing to unfavourable market conditions.