UTI Asset Management shareholders close to consensus on Jitesh Khosla

Reena Zachariah & Rohini Singh

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The impasse over appointment of the next chief of UTI Asset Management Company is likely to end, with shareholders close to reaching a consensus on Jitesh Khosla, a civil servant, as the new chairman and managing director.

The consensus came about after US-based investment management firm T. Rowe Price, the single largest shareholder with a 26% stake, dropped its objection to the appointment of Khosla, said a number of people familiar with the matter.

UTI AMC has been headless since February, after UK Sinha, the previous CMD, took over as Sebi chairman. The seeming end to UTI’s leadership blues comes even as three independent directors of the mutual fund — Pradeep Gupta, Sachit Jain and PR Khanna — have decided to urge shareholders to speed up the process of appointing the new chief as the headless fund house is finding the going tough.

The directors, who will jointly write to the shareholders, also intend to squelch speculations that they were contemplating resigning from the board.

“The independent directors have no plans to resign. They are committed to the fund house and want to ensure that a new head comes on board as fast as possible,” said a person briefed on the matter. The letter will be addressed to UTI AMC’s five shareholders, which include T. Rowe Price, state-run insurer LIC, and three public sector banks — SBI, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda.

Last month, two independent directors — Anita Ramchandran, who was the acting chairperson of UTI AMC, and Prithvi Haldea — stepped down from the board citing personal reasons.

There has been considerable speculation that the other three independent directors were close to putting in their papers because of the stalemate over finding a successor to Sinha.