JM Financial's Atul Mehra steps down, may head to Axis Capital as MD & CEO

Atul Mehra's move makes one of the biggest transitions in the sphere of dealmakers.

In one of the biggest transitions in recent years in the world of Indian deal makers, veteran investment banker and Joint MD of JM Financial Ltd Atul Mehra has resigned and emerged as the front-runner to join rival Axis Capital as its MD and CEO, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.

"Following an extensive search process which was keenly contested by multiple bankers from foreign and domestic outfits, Mehra has been picked as the lead candidate for the role," one of the sources told Moneycontrol.

"This is a key exit at JM Financial and Mehra has stepped down and decided to move on," added a second person. A third person also confirmed to Moneycontrol Mehra's exit and the proposed big-ticket move.

Mehra began his career as an analyst at JM Financial in 1991 and is departing after a long tenure of 32 years and 8 months , according to his LinkedIn profile.

All the three persons spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.

Email queries sent to JM Financial, Axis Capital and Axis Capital parent Axis Bank remained unanswered till the time of publishing this article. Despite repeated attempts, Mehra was unavailable for comment.

Also read: JM Financial's Amit Ramchandani likely to join Motilal Oswal as i-banking head

According to the JM Financial website, the Harvard Business School alumnus has worked closely with various departments across the investment banking business of the firm which has exposed him to the entire gamut of corporate finance and capital markets.

"He has developed strong relationships with leading Indian corporates and has led some of the most prestigious transaction in terms of size, innovation and other complexities across both domestic and international markets," the website said.

Also read: Credit Suisse veteran Neelkanth Mishra set to join Axis Bank

JM Financial had last month announced the appointment of Axis Capital's Chirag Negandhi as MD in a role which would see him overseeing various businesses of the group, including institutional equities, equity capital markets, private wealth, alternate investments, portfolio management services and real estate advisory.

Negandhi was earlier the Joint MD and Co-CEO at Axis Capital. Salil Pitale is currently the interim MD and CEO of the firm.

Adi Patel, also a Joint MD and Sonia Dasgupta, MD and CEO of investment banking, are the other senior executives in the JM Financial investment banking team.

In September 2021, a leadership rejig was announced at JM Financial as part of which Vishal Kampani stepped down as MD and assumed the role of non-executive vice-chairman and Mehra and Patel were appointed as joint managing directors.