Arvind Agarwal, the chief financial officer (CFO) of FSN E-Commerce Ventures Ltd-run Nykaa, resigned from his position with 25 November as his last working day in the role, according to a filing with the exchanges.
“Mr. Arvind Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer of FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited will be leaving the Company, effective close of business hours on November 25, 2022, to pursue other opportunities in the digital economy & start-up space,” the filing said.
Agarwal, who joined the role in July 2020, will also cease to be one of Nykaa’s key managerial personnel, following the exit.
The beauty e-retailer platform has not made an appointment to replace Agarwal, yet.
“Arvind deserves kudos for the critical role he has played in Nykaa’s emergence as a listed and profitable start-up. While we do regret losing him, we are conscious of his personal dreams, and wish him all the luck,” Nykaa’s founder and chief executive officer Falguni Nayar said on the exit.
Nykaa is not the only new economy business to see a CXO exit. Last week, food delivery platform Zomato’s co-founder Mohit Gupta stepped down in the third major exit of a senior executive in a leadership role this month, following Rahul Ganjoo, who was new initiatives head, and Siddharth Jhawar, the former head of Intercity Legends service.
This comes as the beauty e-retailer’s shares tumbled after its lock-up period ended early this month. Its stock ended at Rs 175.20 today, slightly higher than the day’s low, however, significantly lower than its listing price.
On Tuesday, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), one of the largest pension funds in Canada, picked up stake worth Rs 62.79 crore in Nykaa buying 3.45 million shares from the consumer firm’s existing shareholder Lighthouse India, as part of the bulk deal disclosure on BSE.
Mid-market private equity firm Lighthouse Advisors Pvt. Ltd has cumulatively sold 18.45 million shares worth Rs 335.72 crore at the price of Rs 182 per share of Nykaa.
Besides OTPP and other mutual funds, Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore Pte also acquired 2.92 million shares worth Rs 53.10 crore from Lighthouse India.
As on 12 November 2022, Lighthouse India held 58.14 million shares worth 2.04% stake in Nykaa through Lighthouse India Fund III Ltd.
The PE fund had invested around Rs 100 crore to pick up 1.5 crore shares or around 3% stake in the beauty retailer in 2018, providing exit to TVS Capital Funds.
Apart from Lighthouse, Kravis Investment Partners (1.13%), Fidelity (1.29%), TPG (2.28%) and Steadview Capital Mauritius Ltd (3.45%) are some of the foreign investors who continue to stay invested, as per shareholding pattern dated November 12.
Besides Lighthouse, several other key shareholders including American PE investor TPG Capital and Segantii India Mauritius, among others, have pared their stake in the e-retailer following the end of the lock-in period, wherein promoters and investors cannot liquidate the pre-IPO securities held by them during the lock-in period.
Earlier this month, Nykaa reported a 344% YoY jump in its net profit for the quarter ended 30 September, 2022 at Rs 52 million, while its revenue from operations grew about 39% YoY to Rs 12,308 million in the same period.
Nayar started Nykaa in 2012. The company offers more than 5,500 brands across beauty and fashion with about a billion site visits every month.
When the startup debuted on the stock market last year, it was valued at over $13 billion. Its current market capitalization is a little over $6.6 billion.
