Sons rise at Alembic

Alembic Ltd has restructured its top management by inducting Chairman and Managing Director Chirayu C Amin's three sons at the helm of three key business divisions.

Pranav, Shaunak and Udit -- the three sons of Amin -- have taken charge of active pharmaceuticals ingredients (API) and generic alliances, and formulations and generics businesses, respectively.

"The new chiefs are being appointed to support certain important business development cells along with the professionals currently heading these divisions," company sources said today. The management revamp was part of reshaping growth with a new talent pool, they added.

Some analysts said this was yet another case of professional managers making way for the next-generation of members of promoter families. HT Patel, who was the head of the APIs and the generic alliances arm, left the company a couple of months ago. Atul Burman, head of business development and formulations, has left as well.

Pranav, the eldest son of Amin, was appointed as chief business development officer of the flagship business of the Rs 445 crore (Rs 4.45 billion) company -- APIs and generic alliances division -- yesterday. His younger siblings -- Shaunak and Udit -- will shortly take over as chief business development officers of the other key divisions, formulations and generics, respectively.

"The company board has already approved the appointments of the three new executives. We have also received the shareholders' approval. Now, it awaits the central government's approval," said sources.

Going by Section 314 of the Companies Act, 1956 and the Director's Relatives (Office or Place of Profit ) Rules, 2003, these appointments needed government clearance as the incumbents were related to the promoters, sources said. Chirayu C Amin was not available for comments.

Alembic has introduced 23 new formulations, including line extensions, during 2004-05. It has some well-known professionals under its fold. K Srinivas, former head of strategy at Ranbaxy, joined the company as president of the API and generic alliances a few months back.

Around the same time, PB Deshpande, who had a long stint with Orchid Pharma, joined as the head of research and development. Earlier, Pradeep Rane had taken over the reins of the formulation business as president. Alembic also revamped its human resources team with the induction of G Rajkumar, formerly with Dr Reddy's Lab, as senior vice-president.

One of the oldest pharmaceutical companies in India, Alembic -- formerly known as Alembic Chemical Works Company -- has completed 80 years of operations. Among other things, the company makes Glycodin, one of the most trusted cough syrups for over 50 years.