Alternative investment firm The Xander Group has named new directors to the board of its non-banking finance company less than a month after the NBFC’s chief executive Amar Merani left after expiry of his five-year contract.
The company named Xander Group’s portfolio operations director Varun Gopinath and outsiders Rajesh Jogi and Tariq Chinoy to Xander Finance board.
Jogi, a risk management professional with over 30 years of experience, has served in senior positions at leading global financial institutions and their Indian units.
Chinoy has a background in the Indian asset management industry and Gopinath has been Xander Group’s portfolio operations director since October 2020.
“We hope the newly recast board will provide both strategic guidance on key matters, and bring a renewed sense of entrepreneurial urgency to Xander Finance as it starts its second decade of operations,” Sid Yog, founder of Xander Group, said.
The new appointments came as part of a larger reorientation of the unit’s strategic goals, including a revamp of its Indian management team, Xander said.
“As part of this revamp, Merani has moved on to pursue other interests,” the company said.
VCCircle reported last month that Merani, who was with Xander Finance for almost nine years, will likely join the realty PE vertical of a Mumbai asset manager. Its chief finance officer and a few others have also stepped down.
The revamp comes as NBFCs have turned cautious amid a liquidity crunch that has been on since the IL&FS crisis unfolded in 2018. A string of NBFCs have also gone belly up as a result of the trouble in the sector.
Xander Group focuses on emerging markets. Since 2005, it has committed over $3 billion to India across private, public, credit and venture investments.
Xander Group has acquired or developed real estate across the office, retail, industrial, hospitality, warehousing and residential segments.
