Mumbai: RatanTata is “most likely” to step down as chairman of theTataTrusts, which control a 66 percent stake in the $100 billionTata conglomerate’s holding companyTataSons, said a Times of India report citingTata’s long-time confidant R K Krishna Kumar.
The Trusts have asked an external consultant to advise them on the selection process, which could be completed by the middle of next year, said Krishna Kumar according to the report, adding that the next chairman of the Trusts will be an Indian, but not necessarily a member of the Tata family. The Trusts’ investments in the listed Tata companies alone are worth $41 billion.
The role of the Trusts has been at the center of the ongoing feud between Tata and Tata Sons’ ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry.
It would bring to an end his decades-long association with India’s largest conglomerate. It would also put to rest charges that he continues to control Tata Sons through his leadership at the Trusts even after leaving Tata Sons and that the next chairman of the holding company would remain in the long shadow of the patriarch.
When Ratan Tata made way for Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons in 2012, he stayed on as head of Tata Trusts. It was the first time in the history of the Tatas that the two positions were uncoupled, all previous Tata Sons chairmen had also headed the Trusts. The reason, according to a long-time insider at Bombay House, is that Mistry isn’t a Tata.
Ratan Tata’s confidant R Venkataramanan, who has been the target of several attacks by the Mistry camp, is expected to move overseas and manage Tata’s personal investments, notably the $250 million venture capital fund UCRNT, in association with University of California.
