Ahead of its much-anticipated stock market debut, Jio Platforms has changed leadership at the top, installing Pankaj Pawar as chief executive officer in place of Kiran Thomas. The change was disclosed in draft IPO documents filed with market regulator SEBI.
According to these filings, Thomas stepped down from the CEO role on March 23, and Pawar assumed the position the very next day. The company is targeting a raise of roughly $4 billion (about Rs 37,700 crore) at a valuation near $137 billion.
Thomas Missing From Leadership Roster
Notably, Thomas is not listed among Jio Platforms’ key managerial personnel in the draft prospectus. AÂ surprising omission given that he had represented the company at every annual general meeting since RIL’s digital arm was founded. Thomas had earlier held the role of president at Reliance Industries.
The draft papers also lay out the company’s board composition: Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL, will chair Jio Platforms’ board as a non-executive director; Manoj Harjivandas Modi will join as a non-executive director; and Akash Ambani will take on the role of managing director. Rounding out the board, Akash’s siblings Isha and Anant Ambani will serve as non-executive directors.
Pawar, aged 53, currently holds the position of managing director at Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. He has spent close to 26 years with the Reliance Group, having joined in 2000, and brings extensive experience in building large-scale consumer and digital businesses.
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Potentially India’s Biggest-Ever IPO
Through the sale of up to 27 crore fresh shares, amounting to roughly 2.9% of the company’s equity post-listing, Jio Platforms hopes to raise around $4 billion. This offering represents a significant step for Reliance Industries as it works to extract value from its telecom and technology arm, now considered one of the conglomerate’s principal growth drivers.
Jio’s telecom business, Reliance Jio Infocomm, stands as the second-largest single-country mobile carrier in the world by subscriber count, trailing only China Mobile, and counts Meta and Google among its major overseas backers. Should the IPO proceed as planned, it would eclipse Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 27,870-crore listing from 2024, making it the biggest public offering in Indian history.
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