Mumbai: Raymond Lifestyle (RLL), the demerged entity of the ₹9,286-crore conglomerate Raymond, has appointed some top executives of India Inc as independent directors ahead of a possible listing next month.
Vineet Nayar, former chief executive of HCL Technologies, GC Chaturvedi, former chairman of ICICI, Anisha Motwani, board member of Abbott, and Raymond director Dinesh Lal have been appointed as independent directors. The appointments were made earlier this month, people aware of the development told ET.
Gautam Singhania, chairman of Raymond, is likely to take charge as Raymond Lifestyle’s managing director, they said. Sunil Kataria, the chief executive of Raymond Lifestyle, will also be part of the newly constituted board. Singhania, chairman and MD of Raymond, said the group is focused on creating shareholder value.
“This journey that we have started with the demerger of our lifestyle business gets a heft by enabling the right governance with a board comprising members with high pedigree,” he said. “Their diverse expertise and insights will contribute to our strategic vision and operational excellence. Their steer will play a critical role in driving the company’s long-term success and delivering value to our stakeholders.”
Raymond’s restructuring plan, which included the demerger of the lifestyle business and amalgamation of its consumer trading arm, was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June 2024. After the restructuring, shareholders will get five shares of Raymond Lifestyle for every four shares of Raymond.
Earlier this month, the board of Raymond also approved the separation of the real estate business, which will be housed under Raymond Realty. It will seek automatic listing on the stock exchanges. Following this, a shareholder of Raymond will receive one share of the new entity for every one share held in the former.
Following the demergers, the Raymond Group will have three separate listed entities – Raymond Lifestyle, Raymond Realty and Raymond. Raymond will focus on engineering tools and hardware, auto components, aerospace and defence production.
Raymond Realty is currently monetising its legacy land parcel in Thane and has also begun looking at development projects in Bandra. The demerger will enable each vertical of the group – lifestyle, real estate and engineering – to get right focus and leadership attention to get scale, Singhania had told ET in an earlier interaction. It will utilise free cash flows to support strategic investments in real estate development and engineering advancements, he had said.
Singhania had said that the planned demerger will create a pure-play real estate arm that will develop projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which is expected to unleash a ₹2-lakh-crore market opportunity for real estate players.
“In real estate, our competitive advantage lies in our proven track record of timely project delivery and customer satisfaction. We differentiate ourselves through superior execution and quality, which are pivotal in sustaining market leadership amid competitive dynamics,” Singhania said.
