According to people familiar with the issue, Vedanta Ltd. may lose its third chief financial officer in three years as the mining conglomerate owned by billionaire Anil Agarwal embarks on a massive restructuring of its subsidiaries.
According to sources who asked not to be identified because the situation is private, Sonal Shrivastava, who joined the company in June, notified Agarwal of her wish to leave last month. According to reports, Agarwal is in talks with finance specialists who have previously worked for the company to replace her, and a decision might be made as soon as this week.
Agarwal's woes will be exacerbated by Shrivastava's departure, as his holding company, Vedanta Resources Ltd., faces $3 billion in bond obligations over the next two years. The group has been in discussions with bondholders about possible terms adjustments for the upcoming maturities. If she is accepted, she will join G. R. Arun Kumar, who departed in 2021 after Agarwal's failed move to take the Mumbai-listed company private, and Ajay Goel, who left earlier this year.
A spokesperson for Vedanta did not respond to a request for comment. Shrivastava did not respond to a request for comment made through a group spokesman.
Last month, Vedanta Ltd. approved a plan to divide itself into six publicly traded companies. Agarwal anticipates that the move will direct investors to critical firms while increasing the value of their constituent parts. The restructure would also make it easier to sell assets to reduce its parent company's debt load, which the billionaire has long avoided.
Agarwal, who took over his father's aluminum conductor business in the 1970s before expanding into the scrap metal trade, transformed Vedanta Ltd. into a natural resources powerhouse through a series of risky acquisitions.
