Andrew Murray-Watson started at Malaysia-based Petra Group as vice president of communications last week.
The tech multinational, owned by tycoon Vinod Sekhar, is readying its Green Rubber subsidiary for a LSE listing early next year.
The company has developed a technology that recycles tyre rubber, and is expected to carry a valuation of £200m.
Murray-Watson moved to the Independent on Sunday in 2006 from the Sunday Telegraph, where he was city and media correspondent. In August, he interviewed Petra Group head Sekhar for the Independent on Sunday, calling him ‘a flamboyant Richard Branson-type figure'.
