All of Goyal’s unvested Esops will revert to the Esop pool as part of this transition
Emphasising that while his financial future remains meaningfully tied to Eternal, Deepinder Goyal, who recently resigned as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, has stated that he will surrender employee stock options valued at around Rs 900 to Rs 1,000 crore.
“My incentives remain aligned with long-term shareholder value creation. As part of this transition, all of my unvested ESOPs will revert to the ESOP pool. This ensures that Eternal continues to have meaningful wealth-creation opportunities for its next generation of leaders, while strengthening long-term retention without incremental shareholder dilution,” Goyal said in a letter to shareholders.
During the company’s quarterly analysts’ call, the company’s chief financial officer, Akshant Goyal, noted that the surrender would add around 3.3 crore shares to the ESOP pool, which currently has over 20 crore shares.
He added that the expanded pool would reduce the need for further ESOP-related dilution for a longer period than previously. While Goyal steps away from the Group CEO role, he will remain on the board of directors as Vice Chairman subject to shareholders’ approval.
“Of late, I have found myself drawn to a set of new ideas that involve significantly higher-risk exploration and experimentation. These are the kinds of ideas that are better pursued outside a public company like Eternal. If these ideas belonged inside Eternal’s strategic scope, I would have pursued them within the company. They do not. Eternal deserves to remain focused and disciplined while exploring new areas of growth that are relevant to its current line of business,” Goyal explained the reason for his decision.
