Noel Tata’s opposition to taking his family empire’s parent firm public is creating discord atop. As reported by Bloomberg, two of the six trustees at Tata Trusts are set to propose that the group’s holding company prepare for a listing in line with Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) regulations.
Tata Trusts is a group of charities that control two-thirds of Tata Sons Pvt.
Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh will likely advocate for the need for Tata Sons to make this transition at an upcoming Tata Trusts board meeting on May 8, the report added citing people familiar with the matter.
Currently, Srinivasan and Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata, are the two nominee directors on the board of Tata Sons. Former bureaucrat Vijay Singh, who was earlier on the board of Tata Sons, stepped down in September last year when a section of trustees led by former trustee Mehli Mistry voted against his reappointment.
In a separate development, Mehli Mistry, former Tata Sons trustee, has written to the Tata Sons informing them that he has explained in an affidavit why he voted against the reappointment of Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh to the Tata Education and Development Trust (TEDT).
Mistry referred to the proceedings when, according to him, the trustees had wrongfully voted against him. The development has come ahead of a crucial May 8 meeting of the Tata Sons, where the board is set to review trustee representation and deliberate on a possible listing as a public company.
As per the new rules coming into effect from July 1, the RBI will designate Tata Sons a shadow bank that will ultimately require it to be listed. Back in 2022, RBI classified Tata Sons as an “upper-layer” non-banking financial company with a three-year time line to go public.
Noel Tata’s Opposition to IPO Creates Discord Within Tata Sons
