After successfully steering the company from the front, Tarang Jain, the managing director of auto components player Varroc Group and nephew to Rahul Bajaj, is now gearing for the next phase of growth, as he gets ready to take his company public by the first quarter of next year.
According to Economic Times, Jain said “I have taken some big bets over the years which have paid off.”
The Aurangabad-based Varroc has appointed Ashwani Maheshwari as CEO for its India business from April 2018. Along with Maheshwari, who was heading the metallic business of the company, is Stephane Vedie, CEO of Varroc lighting, based out of USA.
Both Maheshwari and Vedie will be reporting to Tarang Jain. Also, the group CFO TR Srinivasan (from Alliance Tire) and chief sales and marketing head Vikas Marwah (from Sona Koyo Steering Systems have been recently appointed. While it’s building internal leadership, Varroc plans to have at least 20% women in managerial roles.
“There is family in business but he has to be competent,” said Tarang. Currently, Tarang’s elder son Dhruv is heading the electrical business after a 2-3 year stint in a startup in San Francisco. The company also appointed four independent directors to the board — Gautam Khandelwal, Marc Szulewicz, Vijaya Sampath and Vinish Kathuria.
With 37 manufacturing facilities, 12 engineering centres, 12,400 employees and 760 engineering experts in 12 countries, Varroc Group is on a growth trajectory clocking sales of $1.5 billion in 2016-17.
Tata Opportunities Fund, which holds a 13.7% stake in the company, plans to exit during the IPO. It invested.`300 crore in Varroc in 2014. Varroc has hired investment banks Kotak and Credit Suisse to manage their initial share sale. Bankers are yet to file the draft red herring prospectus. Tarang did not divulge any information on the IPO.
Founded in 1990, Varroc Group is a supplier of exterior lighting systems, powertrains, electricals-electronics, body and chassis parts to leading motorcycle companies like Royal Enfield, Yamaha and Bajaj Auto. Over the years while business has increased to Bajaj Auto, its dependence has reduced to 16% because of the addition of new customers, said Tarang.
