IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd, the sole private equity firm to be listed on stock exchanges in India, said on Friday its chief executive officer Krishna Kumar has resigned.
Kumar had been elevated to the position of CEO in May 2017 after the exit of Archana Hingorani.
Kumar was one of the founding members of IL&FS Ltd’s PE practice. In the heydays of IL&FS, he was the co-head of Standard Chartered IL&FS Asia Infrastructure Growth Fund, a $660 million fund jointly managed by Standard Chartered Bank and IL&FS.
According to the company’s website, Kumar has been involved in investments in IL&FS Transportation, Ramky Enviro Engineers, Gujarat Pipavav Port, Max Telecom (now Vodafone Idea Ltd) and DEN Networks.
A little more a year after Kumar was named the CEO, the PE firm’s parent Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) defaulted on a series of loans. This prompted the government to take control of IL&FS, and install a new board that subsequently decided to restructure the infrastructure operator and financier and sell its assets.
The group is hoping to pay off $13 billion in debts by selling road, real estate and other assets. In December 2018, the group also decided to invite bids to sell the PE unit.
In July 2019, the board approved the sale of IL&FS Wind Energy Ltd to its existing Japan-based shareholder Orix Corp, which owned a 49% stake in each of seven operating wind power units of IL&FS.
In November last year, the firm got approval from its lenders to sell its majority holding in Schoolnet India Ltd (formerly known as IL&FS Education & Technology Service Ltd) to Career Point Publications Pvt. Ltd.
The group’s problems worsened after a widespread fraud was discovered. Last April, former IL&FS chairman Hari Sankaran was arrested for allegedly perpetuating a fraud.
Meanwhile, the PE firm has been almost defunct and is trying to wind down its previous investments.
Last July, a Euronext-listed real estate fund floated by IL&FS PE exited its last investment at a steep loss.
IL&FS PE posted a loss of Rs 6.61 crore on net income of Rs 27.11 crore for the nine months through December 2019.