UBS India i-banking head Shankar quits

Prior to joining UBS, he worked with another I bank- DSP Merril Lynch for 4 years

Ravi Shankar, managing director and head of investment banking in India for UBS AG, the Swiss-headquartered global financial services company, has resigned. He had joined UBS in October 2004.

Prior to joining UBS, Shankar, a graduate of IIT-Kanpur and IIM-Calcutta, had worked with DSP Merrill Lynch for four years. At present, he’s on three months leave prior to quitting, said people in the know. A UBS spokesperson has confirmed that Shankar is no longer with the bank while Shankar could not be reached for comment.

During his UBS tenure, Shankar was involved in landmark transactions such as Hindalco’s $6-billion acquisition of Novelis, Unilever’s $3-bn tender offer for Unilever India, Essar's $1.8-bn acquisition of Algoma Steel, Tech Mahindra’s $570-million acquisition of Satyam and Genpact’s $550-mn acquisition of Headstrong.

He also worked closely with quite a large Indian and global companies on expansion plans, some of which has resulted in international fundraising, such as Infosys' $1.6-bn American Depository Receipt offering, Genpact's $600-mn public offer in the US and Birla Minerals' $299-mn public offer on the Australian Stock Exchange. Recently, he also led a $90-mn NYSE listing of Amira Foods.

In the past couple of years, the India office of UBS has seen major churn at the senior level. Manisha Girotra, head of UBS India, i-banking heads like Ashok Mittal, Ganeshan Murugaiyan and head of debt capital markets, Ajay Mahajan had resigned in last couple of years.