Two months after making an impressive debut on the exchanges, food technology platform Zomato is now looking to bolster its finance role by tapping into top talent from the Big Four, multiple industry sources told Moneycontrol.
“Zomato is in talks to take over Nitin Savara, EY’s senior partner,” one of the sources said. Ernst & Young, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), and KPMG are four of the largest accounting firms in the United States.
With more than 20 years of experience, Savara, a certified public accountant and attorney, specializes in transaction tax and structuring.
“Savara is scheduled to join current CFO Akshant Goyal’s team. The plan from now on is to prepare him for a few months after joining and then he can take on a high-level financial role,” said a second person familiar with the deliberations.
Two other people confirmed Savara’s imminent move to Zomato, adding that he had resigned and worked on the company’s Rs 9,375 crore IPO, which was the first from a tech company in India.
All four people spoke to Moneycontrol on condition of anonymity.
When contacted, EY declined to comment and we were unable to get a response from Savara who was not available.
“It’s been less than a year since Akshant took over as the Chief Financial Officer at Zomato. He led the charge for our IPO and has been doing a tremendous job. The company has full confidence in Akshant under this role. That said, we are in talks with a few folks to join Akshant’s team here at Zomato, “a spokesperson of the Gurugram-based company said in response to an email query from Moneycontrol.
Several people have served as CFOs at Zomato in recent years. Goyal, who was the head of corporate development, was appointed CFO in October 2020.
His predecessor Akriti Chopra, who was previously at PwC, became the head of people development and was named a co-founder in June 2021.
Before Chopra, Sameer Maheshwari, a former GE executive, was the CFO. He quit the job for six months in December 2018 and is now with Pine Labs.
Waves of change
Earlier this month, Zomato co-founder Gaurav Gupta announced his resignation. “I am taking a new turn in my life and will begin a new chapter, taking a lot out of this defining chapter of my life – the last six years at Zomato,” Gupta wrote to employees.
Gupta, who joined Zomato in 2015, was named COO in 2018 and founder in 2019. He was the face of the company in the lead up to the IPO, leading discussions with investors and the media.
Since his inclusion on the list, Zomato has seen a turnover. It closed its grocery delivery service, its nutrition business, as well as its international subsidiaries in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.
Savara: the new negotiator on the Zomato menu
According to an IFLR profile, Savara has extensive experience advising clients on private and public market transactions, including structuring initial public offerings for domestic and international capital markets, mergers and earnings, delisting and acquisitions. minorities.
He advises on strategic matters, Indian tax, international tax, exchange control and other related areas.
Savara has been with EY for just over eight years according to her Linkedin profile. Before EY, he had stints at BMR Advisors and Arthur Anderson.
In 2020, EY partners Charanjit Attra and V Krishnakumar resigned to take on senior positions at India Inc. Moneycontrol, on August 30, 2020, was the first to report that Attra, partner of Financial Accounting Advisory Services (FAAS), would join to State Bank of India as CFO.
Moneycontrol also revealed the story of pharmaceutical investment banking partner Krishnakumar who joined private equity fund ChrysCapital backed by mid-cap brand formulations player Eris Lifesciences as CEO.
Talent search
The year 2021 has been a busy one for the advisory world, as key personnel have moved to join rivals or fill positions at India Inc, especially in the startup and e-commerce segment.
For example, former PwC India Advisory Leader Deepankar Sanwalka joined the core leadership team of India’s most valuable startup, Paytm, as president (business functions).
On April 16, 2021, as reported by Moneycontrol, Roshan Thomas, a partner at the Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas law firm, addressed Byju’s as the group’s general counsel.
L&L law firm partner Damini Bhalla joined Zomato as general counsel in March.
