Tata Group chairmanship down to two prospects; battered shares seen as ‘buy’
mumbai/new delhi — Tata Group is examining at least two internal candidates as India’s largest conglomerate seeks to find a successor to ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, according to people familiar with the matter.
Tata Consultancy Services chief executive officer N. Chandrasekaran and Jaguar Land Rover head Ralf Speth are among those being considered, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private.
Trent chairman Noel Tata, a member of the founding family and Mistry’s brother in law, is also being considered, one of the people said. The preliminary list is subject to change, according to the people, as the search committee has four months to identify a replacement.
Chandrasekaran and Speth didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Tata Sons, the group’s holding company, declined to comment. Noel Tata wasn’t immediately reachable.
On Monday, the group’s holding company abruptly ousted Mistry, 48, as chairman and replaced him with his 78-year-old predecessor Ratan Tata, who said the scion of the founding family will only fill in the role temporarily. The conglomerate has set up a committee to search for a successor.
Mistry had focused on being fiscally prudent and exiting nonprofitable businesses during the nearly four years he was in charge. That was a contrast to the group’s acquisitive tendencies under Ratan Tata, who spearheaded the purchases of Jaguar Land Rover and steelmaker Corus Group. The turmoil that knocked Tata’s key Indian units from multi-year highs is being seen by some investors as a chance to snap up shares. Tata Group companies have lost at least $3.3 billion in market value since Monday when Mistry was abruptly replaced.
“The fall in Indian Hotels and Tata Steel shares is overdone and we are buying this fall,” Chakri Lokapriya, Mumbai-based managing director at TCG Advisory Services, which manages about $3 billion, said by phone.
“The outlook for the stocks continues to remain what it was before the whole saga broke out.” — Bloomberg