Ahead of demerger, Piramal Pharma inducts three new board members

Piramal Enterprises has received shareholders' approval to demerge its Piramal Pharma business and simplify the corporate structure

Piramal Pharma, ahead of its demerger with Piramal Enterprises, has inducted three people into its board for assisting the company in "maintaining high governance".

Former Pfizer executive Peter Stevenson, ex-Teva executive Nathalie Leitch and corporate lawyer Sridhar Gorthi are the new board members. The de-merger is expected to be completed by this December.

“These new appointments, which come ahead of the planned demerger of PPL from Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL), will assist us in maintaining high governance for the new listed corporate entity,” the company said in a statement. Piramal Pharma draws only 15 percent of its revenues from India and in FY21 had a turnover of over Rs 5700 crore.

Piramal Enterprises has received shareholders’ approval to demerge its pharmaceuticals business and simplify the corporate structure. The company received 99 per cent of the votes for the merger in a shareholder meeting on Tuesday, PEL said in a statement. After the demerger, there would be two focused entities: financial services and pharmaceuticals.

Under the de-merger announced in 2021 and upon approval by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Piramal Pharma will be listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India.

The PPL board is led by chairperson Nandini Piramal and Piramal Global Pharma CEO Peter DeYoung. It includes former Tata Consultancy Services CEO S Ramadorai; Neeraj Bhardwaj, managing director at Carlyle India Advisors; Jairaj Purandare, founder Chairman of JMP Advisors, and Vivek Valsaraj, a Piramal Group executive of over 21 years who oversees finance and shared services functions.

Nathalie Leitch is an expert in the US generics industry and has held senior leadership roles at Fresenius Kabi, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan plc and Actavis (formerly Watson).

Sridhar Gorthi is a veteran in corporate law, mergers and acquisition, and private equity. He is the founding partner and member of the Management Committee at Trilegal.

Peter Stevenson was a member of Pfizer’s Global Manufacturing Leadership Team with responsibilities for global procurement, global external supply, and a portfolio of Pfizer internal manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, and Asia. Later, he served as General Manager of Pfizer’s contract manufacturing business and as value stream Leader for the injectables and hospital products value stream.