Essar Energy names Sushil Maroo as CEO

London-listed Essar Energy plc on Thursday announced appointment of Sushil Maroo as its Chief Executive Officer in place of Naresh Nayyar, who was largely instrumental in shaping of the company.

Nayyar, who led Essar Energy's much touted $350 million acquisition of UK's Stanlow refinery, has decided to step down after more than three years at the helm.

"Maroo was appointed Chief Executive Officer and a director of Essar Energy following the decision by Naresh Nayyar, the current Chief Executive Officer, to step down," a company statement said

Nayyar will, however, be appointed as a member of the Essar Corporate Centre, an oversight advisory committee. Both appointments are effective from September 16, 2013.

Maroo most recently served as a deputy managing director and was on the board of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and has also served as a Deputy Managing Director of Jindal Power Limited since 2008.

Prior to the Jindal Group, Maroo worked with other large corporate institutions such as Hindustan Lever, Voltas (Tata Group), Nippon Dendro Ispat Ltd (Mittal Group) and Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (Birla Group).

Maroo is a chartered accountant and has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Rajasthan.

Nayyar, 62, has held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Essar Energy plc since March 2010 and was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Essar Oil Ltd from October 2007 to December 2011.

"Nayyar has been instrumental in overseeing the growth of Essar Energy since its IPO in May 2010, which has seen refining capacity grow from 260,000 barrels per day throughput to 741,000 barrels per day, and power capacity grow from 1,220 MW to 3,910 MW," the statement said.

Essar said the Nominations and Governance Committee of the Board has in place plans for the succession of Board directors and other senior executive positions.

"The Committee had been looking at the options for a new Chief Executive Officer as Nayyar, 62, had indicated a desire to take a step back from day to day operations and that he was prepared to remain in the role until a suitable replacement had been identified. Following the identification of Maroo, Nayyar has now notified his intention to step down from the Board of Essar Energy," the statement added.

Company Chairman Prashant Ruia said Maroo has a strong track record of business operations and providing strategic and financial advice across a number of industries.

"Essar Energy has seen massive growth over the last few years and as the business focus moves to asset optimisation and strengthening the balance sheet we have in place a very strong management team to continue to deliver improved performance and value for our stakeholders," he added.