Birla Sun Life Management Restructure

The Aditya Birla Group and Sun Life Financial have reviewed the Management structure required to support all four joint venture businesses i.e. Asset Management, Insurance, Distribution and Securities, into the future. As a result some Management changes will come into effect from 1st January 2002.

The companies will remain under the control of both the Aditya Birla Group and Sun Life Financial through the Joint Venture Boards. The e;xecutive Committees, which advise on the operational policy, will also remain in place and in the future both partners will have two representatives on the Committees sitting alongside the CEO of the respective businesses.

Sun Life Financial will take the prime role in leading the insurance and distribution companies, while the Aditya Birla Group will take the leadership role in relation to the asset management and securities businesses. In order to facilitate this, Mr. S K Mitra, Director Financial Services, for the Aditya Birla Group will take on day-to-day responsibility of the Asset Management Company as Director and Chief e;xecutive Officer, in addition to his other duties. Mr. Jeremy Beswick, who has been the President and Chief e;xecutive Officer of the Asset Management Company since August 1999, will be relocating back to the United Kingdom at the end of the year.

Mr. Douglas Henck, e;xecutive Vice-President, Asian Operations for Sun Life Financial based at Hong Kong, will join the joint venture e;xecutive Committees and will oversee the insurance and distribution companies.

A shared services project is proposed to be established in 2002 to examine the opportunities for sharing common services across the four companies. The roles, responsibilities and membership of the Joint Venture Boards and e;xecutive Committees will be reviewed in light of these Management changes. Mr. Vijay Singh, Vice-President, India for Sun Life Financial and Mr. S K Mitra, as the current e;xecutive Committee members, will play key roles.

The changes proposed for the future structure and overseeing of the Companies recognise and build on the strengths of the Aditya Birla Group and Sun Life Financial. We are confident that these changes will strengthen our businesses and allow us to continue to positively develop our joint venture partnership.