Burmans to appoint 'key management people' in Eveready post open offer

We plan to clean the company and run it in a professional manner: Mohit Burman

The Burman family – promoters of Dabur India – will look at appointing “Key Management People” in the country’s largest dry cell battery maker, Eveready Industries India, post completion of the open offer.

The company currently controlled by the Brij Mohan Khaitan family has Amritanshu Khaitan at the helm as the managing director whose term will be coming to an end in May 2022.

Asked whether the new managing director would be from the Burman family, Mohit Burman, who has been spearheading the family’s investment in Eveready, said, “We will hopefully appoint the relevant Key Management People, post the completion of the Open Offer. We are seeking three seats on the board and we will be appointing the Chairman.”

The current chairman in a non-executive capacity is, late Brij Mohan Khaitan’s younger son, Aditya Khaitan. He is the only other representative from the Khaitan family on the company’s board.

On Monday, Burman Group entities announced an open offer for a 26 per cent in Eveready, about a year and a half of becoming the largest shareholder. Their current holding in the company through five entities is at about 19.84 per cent. The company’s board is expected to meet to take note of the offer from the Burman Group.

“We plan to take control post the open offer,” said Mohit Burman. In the letter to the Eveready board, the Burman Group had said that upon acquiring control of Eveready, it intends to be a “promoter” of Eveready.

On the role of Khaitans in the company – whether they would remain promoters in the company with board representation, Burman said, “We want to appoint our directors and our offer is for taking control of the company”.

The Khaitan family holding has dropped to less than five per cent over the last couple of years as financiers invoked pledged shares (the shares were pledged to borrow funds for group firm, McNally Bharat Engineering). As of December 2021, the Khaitan family’s holding stood at 4.84 per cent, down from 27.39 per cent in December 2019.

Spelling out the vision for Eveready, Burman said that Eveready was an extremely well known and reputed brand in India. “We plan to keep it that way.”

He also said, “We will look for faster growth in existing and new areas. We believe that the brand has a very good recall and penetration, and provided the right direction, we could see a pick-up in sales.”

Burman also plans to extend the brand into new verticals. “We plan to clean the company and run it in a professional manner like our other businesses are currently being run,” he added.

Burman has been making a pitch for professional management of Eveready since group entities acquired a significant shareholding in the company. In sync with the philosophy, Eveready appointed Suvomoy Saha, a non-executive director as joint managing director, last August. Recently, the company also appointed consultancy firm, Bain & Company for rejigging business strategy.