Valli Arunachalam sends legal notice to Murugappa group

CHENNAI: Valli Arunachalam and her family have sent a legal notice to the Murugappa family members and the holding company Ambadi Investments (AIL), in which she holds 8.15 pc stake.

CHENNAI: Days after she was denied a board seat at Ambadi Investments, the holding company of the Rs 38,000 crore Murugappa Group, Valli Arunachalam and her family sent a legal notice to Murugappa family members, Murugappa Group’s holding company Ambadi Investments Ltd. (AIL) management and others.

After the Board of the $5 billion entity voted against her appointment as member, Valli Arunachalam, decided to take the legal channel to stake her share. In the notice shared with the media, said “On behalf of my mother, sister and me, following careful and thorough deliberation and in consultation with our independent advisors, we have decided to seek legal remedies with respect to our ongoing efforts to settle my father’s will. Accordingly, we issued legal notices to the Murugappa family members, Ambadi Investments Ltd. (“AIL” or the “Company”) management, the Company and other people in relation thereto. It was a big step for us and a very unfortunate one, as we have worked tirelessly over the course of the last three years to bring about an amicable settlement of my father’s interests in AIL. With the family voting unanimously to reject my appointment to the AIL board, we have seemingly reached the end of the road for an amicable settlement.

In the notice shared with the media, Valli said it would be impossible to enumerate each step they had taken over the last three years.

“We can assure you that we, together with our advisors, have taken the leave no stone unturned approach in an effort to bring about an amicable settlement. Such efforts include, inter alia, a proposal for the engagement of an independent mediator. Each entreaty has been met with some combination of silence, combativeness, false assurances, and delay tactics. Given how the Murugappa family has treated our family branch over the past three years, we have no confidence that our substantial stake in the family business will be safeguarded by them. Perhaps most confounding to us is that the Murugappa family has attempted to project their stand as principled and righteous.”

“What is clear to us after three years is the family’s tactics are nothing more than a robe to conceal their socially regressive gender bias. With only female heirs, the historically male dominated family business is effectively asking that my family assume a second class standing in AIL without any of the rights or privileges enjoyed by other families (many of whom have equal economic interests). A considerable portion of my late father’s estate is tied to AIL, and it is entirely unreasonable to expect my family to relinquish control and visibility over these holdings to the broader Murugappa family.”

With only female heirs, the historically male dominated family business is effectively asking that my family assume a second class standing in AIL