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Murthy to preside over SKS advisory council
By siliconindia
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Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 17:19 IST |
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Bangalore: Narayana Murthy, Infosys Chief mentor will preside over an advisory council that will address issues faced by Vikram Akula-led SKS Microfinance, in which Murthy's venture capital fund Catamaran has invested Rs 28 crore. There were also rumors that Murthy has plans to exit from the investment. But the law doesn't permit him to do so.
In a statement, Murthy said that Catamaran's 
28.1 crore investment for 1.3 per cent stake in SKS was locked in for two years and involvement was prompted by the belief that transparent micro finance business would help the poor.
Catamaran, whose initial corpus was built by Murthy and his wife by selling some of their shares in Infosys, said Murthy had advised Akula that it was best for the management and the board to be open, honest and fair in all matters dealing with every stakeholder.
Since SKS CEO Gurumani was sacked a few weeks ago, investor wealth worth over Rs 2,000 crore in the Hyderabad-based micro-finance institution (MFI) has vanished as its shares plunged about 29 per cent. The company's shares, which were trading at Rs 1,355 on October 1, closed on Tuesday at Rs 989.35 on the BSE, shedding 1.6 per cent in the day's trade. The stock had dropped to Rs 962.65 during the day, well below its issue price of Rs 985.
Catamaran invested in SKS on January 16, 2010, and got 937,770 shares, at least six months before the IPO, which raised around Rs 1,600 crore in August 2010.
At a meeting in Bangalore with its CEO on October 13, Catamaran had discussed the role of IT in scaling up SKS operations. Akula took part in the meeting via teleconference. Apart from this conversation, Murthy has not had any interaction with either the management or the directors of SKS, the VC firm said.
Apart from Murthy, other prominent investors in SKS include Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Sandstone Investment Partners, Vinod Khosla, Small Industries Development Bank of India, Quantum (M) and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
28.1 crore investment for 1.3 per cent stake in SKS was locked in for two years and involvement was prompted by the belief that transparent micro finance business would help the poor.
Catamaran, whose initial corpus was built by Murthy and his wife by selling some of their shares in Infosys, said Murthy had advised Akula that it was best for the management and the board to be open, honest and fair in all matters dealing with every stakeholder.
Since SKS CEO Gurumani was sacked a few weeks ago, investor wealth worth over Rs 2,000 crore in the Hyderabad-based micro-finance institution (MFI) has vanished as its shares plunged about 29 per cent. The company's shares, which were trading at Rs 1,355 on October 1, closed on Tuesday at Rs 989.35 on the BSE, shedding 1.6 per cent in the day's trade. The stock had dropped to Rs 962.65 during the day, well below its issue price of Rs 985.
Catamaran invested in SKS on January 16, 2010, and got 937,770 shares, at least six months before the IPO, which raised around Rs 1,600 crore in August 2010.
At a meeting in Bangalore with its CEO on October 13, Catamaran had discussed the role of IT in scaling up SKS operations. Akula took part in the meeting via teleconference. Apart from this conversation, Murthy has not had any interaction with either the management or the directors of SKS, the VC firm said.
Apart from Murthy, other prominent investors in SKS include Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Sandstone Investment Partners, Vinod Khosla, Small Industries Development Bank of India, Quantum (M) and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.