Lakshmi Iyer

Lakshmi Iyer is the current head of mergers and acquisitions at STL. Lakshmi previously worked as vice president of mergers and acquisitions at Essar from November 2008 to December 2016. Iyer was responsible for the evaluation of debt and equity capital raising initiatives through private and public markets, including PE/Strategic Investor, Business Trust, HYB, IPO, QIP and loan transactions for the energy, infrastructure and services businesses of the Group.

Iyer completed the offer for buyout of minority shareholders in Essar Energy Plc, a UK listed entity, and executed the stake consolidation by Essar Energy Plc in its subsidiaries in India entailing buyout of non-public holdings. Lakshmi also led the energy coal mine acquisition initiatives in Indonesia, Australia and Africa and early stage investments in power ventures in Asia.

During their time at Essar, Iyer focused on cross border acquisitions for the various businesses of the Group across Asia, Africa, Europe, Middle East and North America. Lakshmi led the foray into Africa (only international bidder to qualify for the privatization process of Port Harcourt Refinery Corporation, Nigeria) and Eastern Europe (steel ventures).

Lakshmi Iyer has a Master of Business Administration from SDA Bocconi, an executive program in General Management and Leadership from Columbia Business School, an MBA Exchange Program in Mergers & Acquisitions, Venture Capital & Private Equity from The Wharton School, a Post Graduation in Management from SPJIMR SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, and a B.Chem.Engg from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai.

Lakshmi Iyer works with Pieter Pabst - CTO, STL Digital, Deepak Sharma - Head of Media, Communication & BFSI, STL Digital, and Paul Atkinson - CEO, Optical Network Business. Lakshmi Iyer reports to Anand Agarwal, Group CEO & Whole-Time Director.