Now, Cyrus Mistry removed from chairmanship of TATA Global Beverages
Q. Cyrus Mistry has been removed as chairman of ______- Published on 16 Nov 16a. TATA Sons
b. TATA Global Beverages
c. TCS
d. All of the above
ANSWER: All of the above
After TCS, Cyrus Mistry was removed as chairman of TATA Global Beverages, whose board voted for
Harish Bhat instead.
- TATA Global Beverages is a company that makes Tetley and Eight O’Clock Coffee
- Bhat is a TATA Group insider
- He joined the entity in 1987 under TATA Administrative Services
- He earlier worked as COO of Titan and also authored the “ TATA Log: Eight Modern Stories From a Timeless Institution.”
- This is the second time that Mistry has been removed from a TATA entity
- TCS earlier replaced him with Ishaat Hussain as the interim chairman
- 7 of the 10 directors present in the board voted against Mistry as chairman of TATA Global Beverages
- Mistry’s office has said the statement is illegal as the matter of removal of the chairman was not on the agenda and the meeting concluded as Mistry was chairman
- Two independent directors, Darius Pandole and Analjit Singh also opposed the bid at committing illegal acts.
- Mistry found support in the boards of Indian Hotels Company, TATA Chemicals, TATA Motors and TATA Steel
- The boards company happened before the sacking of Mistry as chairman of TATA Sons on 24th Oct
- Ousted chairman Mistry has countered allegations he contributed to rising expenses and impairments at TATA Sons
- “In the five years, several group centre (GCC) members held what were deemed “non-executive” roles in Tata Sons. They, including Mr. Ratan Tata, drew their compensation as commissions from Tata Sons instead of salaries. Several erstwhile directors of Tata Sons drew additional parallel commissions from operating group companies,” the statement released by Mistry said
- TATA Sons also bore the office costs of Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata, according to Mistry who said the figure was at INR 30 crore in 2015 and a significant amount was used for corporate jets.
- Mistry also pointed to investments of a questionable nature including the INR 400 crore investment in Nagarjuna Refiners and some investment in SASOL JV with South Africa’s SASOL in cola to liquid)
- “One investment in Piaggio Aero, a company in the aerospace sector with a friend of Mr. Tata, was especially distressing. Tata Sons decided to exit the company at a commercial loss of Rs 1,150 crore. This was after the efforts of Mr. Bharat Vasani (Chief legal Counsel Tata Sons) and Mr. Farokh Subedar (COO at Tata Sons) who managed to recover Rs. 1,500 crore, overcoming the objections of Mr. Ratan Tata who in contrast favoured increasing investments in that company. Today, the company is, for all practical purposes, nearly bankrupt,” Mr Mistry’s office said in a statement.
