Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, and N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, are reported to have met each other during the weekend.
The meeting between the two came ahead of the crucial meeting of the Tata Sons board on Tuesday, according to a report by Business Standard.
The meeting between Noel Tata and Chandrasekaran ended a three-month-long communication logjam between the two.
The meeting is expected to have set the agenda for the board meeting on May 26, in which Chandrasekaran is set to address the various issues raised by Noel during the last board meeting in February.
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 yet received a response 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.
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.
Meanwhile, corporate governance advisory firm InGovern has called for the listing of Tata Sons in its report titled “Tata Sons: The Listing Imperative”.
The firm argued that Tata Sons has a system-wide impact, but its private nature limits visibility into capital allocation.
