Tarun Das resigns as ACC chairman

Associated Cement Companies (ACC) Chairman Tarun Das resigned from the company's board.

Informing the stock exchanges of this, the cement company, one-third of which is owned by Swiss-based Holcim, said its present deputy chairman Narottam Sekhsaria will take over as chairman. Sekhsaria is managing director of Gujarat Ambuja Cements.

Under Das's chairmanship, ACC crossed the $1 billion mark in turnover, production exceeded 16 million tonne in a year and profit grew beyond Rs 500 crore in 2005.

"His chairmanship will also be remembered for bringing back the sharp focus of ACC to the core business of cement and concrete," said the company.

The ACC board also approved the appointment of Paul Hugentobler, member of executive committee of Holcim, as deputy chairman of the company.

Besides, ACC informed that R A Shah, solicitor and senior partner of Crawford Bayley & Co, and Nirmalya Kumar, a professor at London Business School, joined the board as non-executive directors and representatives of the promoters, Ambuja Cement India.

Das had joined ACC as chairman six years ago following acquisition of the Tata group's stake by Gujarat Ambuja Cements. After the buyout, the ACC board saw the exit of two Tata group nominees from the board.

Pallonji S Mistry, chairman of ACC, discontinued his 48-year-long association with the cement major, and S Ganguly, non-executive vice-chairman of the company, too put in his papers.

The speculation that Das might leave ACC had been doing the rounds ever since Holcim had acquired stake in ACC.

However, the Gujarat Ambuja group dismissed any such notion, saying that the entry of Holcim in ACC would not impact the top management of the company. Further, Gujarat Ambuja officials had said Das would continue to serve as chairman of ACC.