Leo Puri to take over as chairman of UTI AMC

After much infighting, the two warring shareholder camps of the UTI Asset Management Company (AMC) have decided to appoint Leo Puri chairman of the company. An ex-McKinsey hand, Puri has been the Managing Director since August 2013.

In the process, the post of the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) was split. However, as Chairman, Puri will continue to hold the charge of Managing Director.  UTI AMC is one of the largest mutual funds in the country with an assets under management (AUMs) of over Rs 75,000 crore.  

Since early 2011, the shareholders have been fighting over who should be the new Chairman. The shareholders were divided over the proposal to appoint former LIC Chairman D K Mehrotra as the chairman. While the domestic institutions such as the SBI, LIC, PNB and the Bank of Baroda backed him, the US-based T Rowe Price that has 26 per cent stake was against the move.

"There is now a consensus among both sides on Puri's name," says a UTI source. It all had started when in early 2011, the finance ministry suggested Jitesh Khosla as the new CMD. Khosla, an IAS officer, had drawn flak for his proximity to the then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. His sister was also an advisor to Mukherjee.

Puri is considered to be a professional and his work experience includes a stint as Managing Director of Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm. As an independent director, he was also on the boards of Infosys, and Max New York Life Insurance Company. An alumnus of Oxford and Cambridge University, Puri joined UTI after the organisation remained headless for almost 18 months ever since its Chairman U K Sinha moved as Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).