OYO appoints Rakesh Prusti as General Counsel

Hospitality startup OYO which is in talks to raise a fresh round of funding on Tuesday said it has appointed Rakesh Prusti as its General Counsel.

As a key member of the leadership team at OYO, Prusti will work closely in all strategic and inorganic initiatives and shall lead and manage contract management, disputes resolution, litigation, setting up risk management and compliance framework, international legal strategy, and policy advocacy among other responsibilities.

Before joining OYO, Prusti was the director of legal, compliance and regulatory affairs at Max Healthcare. At Max, he was instrumental in several inorganic initiatives, strengthening corporate governance and compliance system and advocacy functions for the company.

He has spent over 22 years across companies such as French retail giant, Carrefour and NIIT Technologies, among others.

"We have witnessed tremendous growth during the past years which has helped Oyo in emerging as South Asia's largest hotel chain with over 5,500 exclusive hotels. Rakesh’s strong legal, corporate governance acumen coupled with high energy and deep understanding of businesses in both startup and highly structured environment will help us meet and advance in our objectives," said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, OYO.

OYO is also in talks to raise more funds through a share sale.

Last month, Moneycontrol reported its existing investor SoftBank has asked it to get new investors, after which it will participate in a fresh round of funding, which could fetch as much as $500-700 million.

OYO last raised around $250 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund, and another $10 million from Nasdaq-listed Chinese hotel operator China Lodging Group, in September.

Although the company did not disclose its valuation then, sources said it was around $850 million.

The company is also experimenting with new brand names for its premium properties in order to disassociate these properties with the OYO brand name, which is primarily recognised as a budget accommodation provider.

Moneycontrol reported earlier this month that the new brands are called Edition O and Capital O.