Tata Sons looking to buy out stake held by Cyrus Mistry's family

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Less than a week after sacking Cyrus Mistry as the chairman of the company, Tata Sons are reportedly looking for partners to buy out stake held by Pallonji family.

According to a reports in The Economic Times and Bloomberg, Ratan Tata, who is the interim chief of the company, is looking for a partner to buy out the Tata Sons stake held by the family of ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry.

The reports also stated that Tata group has begun talks with sovereign wealth funds and other long-term investors to explore possibility of tie-ups for a buyout in Mistry family’s stake if it became available.

Cyrus Mistry's family or the Shapoorji Pallonji Group are the biggest stake holder in Tata Sons with 18.4 percent share.

In one of the biggest shocking news that took the corporate world by surprise, Cyrus Mistry was on Monday (October 24) removed as the chairman of Tata Sons.

No credible reason was given by the Tatas about the sacking of Mistry, a move which the ousted chairman termed as 'shocking' and 'illegal'.

Following his removal, Mistry wrote an explosive five-page letter wherein he accused Ratan Tata of interfering in decision makings of the company and pushing him into the status of a 'lame duck' chairman.

In the letter, Mistry termed his removal as illegal and said that he was “shocked beyond words at the happenings at the board meeting of October 24, 2016”.

Tatas hit back stating that Mistry's removal was not illegal but was done in the 'long term' interest of the company and as per Articles of Principles.

The Tatas also termed Mistry's letter 'unforgivable', a political drama and an emotional outburst.

Meanwhile, Ratan Tata, taking over as the interim chairman of the company on Tuesday asked CEOs of group firms to focus on their business and not be distracted by the change in top leadership.

The interim boss also asked all the CEOs to concentrate on enhancing returns to shareholders and then appointed Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO & MD N Chandrasekaran as additional directors into the board of holding company.

The company also filed caveat in the Supreme Court, Bombay High Court and the National Company Law Tribunal against Cyrus Mistry moving for relief against his ouster as chairman.