Thomas McDonald, chief strategic officer, also exited the company, according to the paper.

Chicago-based Equity International did not confirm the departures.

But in a written statement made available to Reuters, Zell, the billionaire real estate investor who founded the company in 1999, said he is "actively engaged in the business" and Equity International had the ability to "contribute during this transition."

Equity International, which manages $2 billion of global pension money, owns publicly traded companies around the world including Gafisa SA (>> Gafisa SA) in Brazil, Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd (>> Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. (ADR)) in China and Homex Development Corp (>> Homex Development Corp) in Mexico.

(Reporting by Tej Sapru in Bangalore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)