Petronet hires Ferguson for CEO hunt

Suresh C Mathur, the first CEO and MD, would be retiring on March 31 and a race is already on within the organisation for the top slot.

The board of directors of the company expects that the new incumbent would not be finalised before Mathur's last day in the office as PLL and GoI have already locked horns over the issue of appointment of the new CEO and MD.

On January 28, the government through the ministry of petroleum had issued a note which contained a change in rules about the retirement age of the directors of the company.

The note also decreed that an IAS officer of the rank of a joint secretary could also be put in place of Mathur which created much furor within the organisation and also its shareholders as the move was seen as government interference in the company's affairs. The note reduced the age of retirement for the directors of Petronet from 65 to 60 effective from next fiscal.

"Though the Petronet board has decided to hire A F Ferguson to find out a suitable CEO and MD, the government, however, has not yet withdrawn its earlier circular which is contradictory to the Petronet decision to find a CEO through its own initiatives. But with the existing norms of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), this government move could amount to a violation of the board's takeover code and later, PLL board decided to take up the issue with the government but there has so far been no development in this regard," said an industry source.

While other senior officials of Petronet and members of the board shied away from making comments on the development, Mathur was not accessible for his comments on the issue.

At present, there are 12 members on the company's board including chairman S C Tripathi, secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas and Mathur, a professional.

The other members include, Prosad Dasgupta, director (finance), Sham Sunder, director (technical) and also representatives from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC), Y B Sinha who is also one of the directors on ONGC board and B S Negi, also a director of GAIL India, one of the significant shareholders in Petronet.

Jacques Gautier, one of the directors on board, represents Gaz De France, one of the stakeholders in Petronet which is at present working on developing another LNG terminal in southern India.