MUMBAI: The vertically split trustees of Tata Trusts, which owns the country’s largest corporate group, are finally smoking the peace pipe, with the CEO moving a motion to reappoint Mehli Mistry, the leader of the warring faction, for another term as a trustee -- and most likely a lifetime trusteeship.
Four of the six trustees led by Mistry, Pramit Jhaveri, Jehangir HC Jehangir and Darius Khambata had been openly revolting against chairman Noel Tata since last month when they voted out fellow trustee and vice chairman Vijay Singh, a confidant of the late group patriarch Ratan Tata, from getting re-nominated to the Tata Sons’ board on September 11.
The move comes ahead of the end on October 28 of the first three-year term of Mistry, who was handpicked by the late group doyen Ratan Tata in 2022, and is also a cousin of Noel’s wife Aloo.
Earlier this month, the government had asked the trustees and Tata Sons to resolve the issues amicably with a whatever-it-takes approach and not to let their differences spill out in the public, given the significance of the group for the national economy.
On October 7, Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the former's house in New Delhi to help resolve the issues amicably.
Last week, Tata Trusts unanimously reappointed Venu Srinivasan, a close confidant of the chairman, as a trustee and vice-chairman of the dozen odd trusts for life.
Since November 2016, Srinivasan has been with the trusts and also its nominee director on the board of Tata Sons, the holding company of the 156-year-old conglomerate with over $180-billion in revenues, and straddling in almost every sector of the economy with 30 listed companies and over 400 other operating entities.
According to a source, Tata Trusts has circulated a motion to reappoint Mistry as a trustee as a formality. If done unanimously (October 17, 2024 amendments to the norms appointing trustees demand so), it would make him a lifetime trustee.
“Siddharth Sharma, the chief executive of Tata Trusts, has circulated a motion to other trustees today, seeking to reappoint Mistry to the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust (the major trusts that between then own as much 52% of the 66.6% that the dozen odd trusts own in Tata Sons),” the source cited above told TNIE on Thursday.
However, the source was quick to add that “the motion to reappoint Mistry is just an official formality, given the peaceful atmosphere prevailing among the trustees now.”
A Tata Trusts spokesperson did not respond to a message seeking confirmation.
Mistry is also related to the Shapoorji Pallonji family, which holds an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons.
