Noel Tata, Chandrasekaran To Meet Ahead Of Tata Sons Board Meeting Next Week

Noel Tata and N Chandrasekaran are set to hold discussions before the May 26 board meeting of Tata Sons, The Economic Times reported on Friday.

During the discussions, Chandrasekaran is expected to address concerns raised by Noel Tata during the last Tata Sons board meeting in February.

He is understood to share the presentations to be made before the board with Noel Tata.

During that meeting, convened to decide on the extension of Chandrasekaran’s tenure as Tata Sons chairman, Noel Tata had raised concerns related to high-risk investments, losses in new-age businesses, and the listing of Tata Sons.

He had sought assurances that Tata Sons would not pursue a stock market listing.

Chandrasekaran had himself asked for a deferment of the reappointment decision due to a lack of consensus.

Noel Tata is in favour of maintaining tighter capital discipline and keeping Tata Sons unlisted.

At the same time, there are concerns that the Reserve Bank of India could eventually require Tata Sons to list publicly because of regulatory rules.

Tata Sons has, however, requested the banking regulator to allow an exemption from public listing, but it has not heard back yet on the matter.

Noel Tata is Tata Trusts’ nominee to the Tata Sons board. The trust holds a majority stake of 66 percent in Tata Sons, the holding company and promoter of the Tata Group conglomerate.

The minority stake of 18.4 percent is held by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. The group is understood to be in favour of the listing as it wants to exit Tata Sons through a stake sale to repay its debt.

The discussions between Noel Tata and Chandrasekaran will take place as the former had proposed during the February meeting.

There had been no communication between the two chairmen on the matter following the February meeting.