Cinven announces departure of two senior executives amid UK pricing probe

Dec ‌17 (Reuters) - International private equity firm Cinven ‍said on ‌Wednesday co-managing partner Supraj Rajagopalan and chief ⁠financial officer Alex ‌Leslie, who is also the chief operating officer, will step down from their roles and ⁠leave the firm.

Mike Colato, former CFO who currently serves ​as senior advisor, will take over ‌as interim COO ⁠and CFO, the company said.

Rajagopalan's departure comes as UK regulators consider asking a court ​to ban him over alleged price-gouging by a drugmaker previously owned by Cinven, the Financial Times reported. He decided to ​leave ‍due to uncertainty ​created by the competition watchdog's investigation, the report said citing people familiar with the matter.

In May, the Court of Appeal upheld the CMA's finding of excessive and unfair ⁠pricing in the supply of liothyronine tablets in the UK, ​reinstating a penalty of 51.9 million pounds ($69.49 million) on Cinven.

The company declined to comment on the reason for ‌the management changes.

($1 = 0.7469 pounds)

(Reporting by Aatrayee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)