UTI AMC initiates appt of new MD, CEO

UTI Asset Management Company (AMC) has initiated the process for appointment of a new managing director and chief executive.

The company, which is the investment manager to the schemes of UTI Mutual Fund (MF), is presently headed by Imtaiyazur Rahman, the chief financial officer who was appointed as the interim CEO after Leo Puri's's five-year contract ended in August.

With assets under management of Rs 1.65 lakh crore as of September, UTI MF was the sixth biggest AMC.

The company is seeking an overall work experience of 20 years, with 15 years in financial services and will prefer 10 years in the asset management space, according to an advertisement released in newspapers.

The candidate should have discharged a senior management role in the financial sector, leading an independent business unit comparable to the size of UTI AMC, it said.

They should be a post graduate in finance, economics or law or should have done MBA/CA/ICWAI and be under 60 years of age.

There is a screening committee which may relax the criteria of experience for a deserving candidate, it said, adding the compensation will be competitive and will include a variable performance component.

Its biggest shareholder T Rowe Price (TRP) had publicly expressed concerns regarding leadership continuity and was pitching for an extension to Puri, which was reportedly opposed by its state-run shareholders.

State Bank of India, LIC, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank are the "sponsors" of the company holding 18.24 per cent each in the company as per the advertisement and TRP was also seeking that they get down their shareholding to 10 per cent as per Sebi norms.

It had dragged the four state-run shareholders, government and Sebi to the Bombay High Court, seeking an extension for Puri and also decreasing of sponsors' stakes, but subsequently withdrawn the plea.