India's Tata Group hires Bank of America dealmaker Ankur Verma

[MUMBAI] Tata Group has hired Bank of America Corp dealmaker Ankur Verma, bringing in its first major outside recruit since Natarajan Chandrasekaran took over as chairman of India's biggest conglomerate.

Mr Verma, who was a managing director at Bank of America, joined the chairman's office at Tata Group effective Tuesday, the Indian company said in an emailed response to Bloomberg queries. He brings extensive experience in the areas of corporate planning, strategy, investment banking and mergers and acquisitions, according to the statement.

The 40-year-old banker was the Wall Street firm's head of India M&A for technology, media and telecommunications as well as oil and gas, according to people with knowledge of the matter. He joins Tata Group as a senior vice president, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Mr Chandrasekaran formally took over last month as chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, the holding company of Tata Group, after a bitter public fight between its former chairman and a scion of the conglomerate's founding family. Tata Sons has started interviewing more younger professionals that have a long-term perspective, as Mr Chandrasekaran seeks to build his own team to help formulate group strategy, the people said.

Mr Verma did a post-graduate diploma in management from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, after graduating in mechanical engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, according to the Tata Group statement. A representative for Bank of America declined to comment.

BLOOMBERG