Samara Capital’s proposed takeover of Aditya Birla Insurance Brokers (ABIBL) has stoked a leadership mutiny rather unprecedented in India’s corporate history, with the incumbent CEO and his closest aides quitting the firm to protest the appointment of Samara man Sanjay Radhakrishnan to run the show.
Current CEO and principal officer, Sandeep Dadia, head of corporate business Irfan Shirwani, and head of reinsurance, Mukul Bhatia, are among those that have quit since the change in ownership. Other senior executives of the existing team, Ajay Prabhu, Punit Pancholi and Dhananjay Acharya, have also quit, three sources said.
A spokesperson at ABIBL did not respond to requests for comment. Samara Capital agreed to buy ABIBL in March for a sum of ₹455 crore and the deal is still pending regulatory approval. However, Samara Capital appointed Radhakrishnan to oversee the business. He has appointed Karan Chopra, formerly with Hero Insurance Broking, as the interim CEO, one source said.
The existing operating management was concerned about the business rejig at the top level and some realignment based on the private equity fund’s view of how it wants to run the business. Aditya Birla Capital decided to exit the insurance broking business after about two decades since the company did not scale sufficiently.
The company had reported ₹99 crore PBT in FY23 and premium income of ₹6,000 crore. ABIBL is a composite insurance broker, and provides retail solutions and corporate solutions. ABIBL also offers reinsurance solutions to insurance companies. It has 350+ people strong human capital.
