Lipton India Exports (LIEL), a 100% subsidiary of Hindustan Lever (HLL), has disposed of 61,85,642 equity shares of Rs 10/- each held by it in Rossell Industries (RIL) in favour of M K Shah Exports.According to a release issued by HLL to the BSE today, Unilever Overseas Holdings BV (UOHBV), the Netherlands-based, wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever, also divested 37,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10/- each in favour of M K Shah Exports."Unilever Overseas Holdings BV and Lipton India Exports held a little over 97.5% of the issued and subscribed capital of Rossell Industries and approximately 2.5% is held by certain local shareholders," the release added.The interests of employees will be fully protected as they continue to remain employees of Rossell on the existing terms and conditions."It may be recalled that Rossell had come into Unilever fold in November 1999 as a result of the acquisition of non-resident interests of Jokai Tea Holdings, and Lipton India Exports taking over the shareholding from the Y K Modi group. This was followed by open tender offer under the Sebi takeover guidelines," the release said."In view of the significant losses built up over the years, the transfer consideration is nominal, and therefore not material in the context of the company," the release added.Manwani to succeed Banga as HLL non-executive chairmanHarish Manwani, president (Asia & Africa) of Unilever, will succeed M S Banga as the non-executive chairman of Hindustan Lever (HLL)."It is the intention of the board to elect Harish Manwani as the non-executive chairman of the company in succession to M S Banga from the conclusion of the AGM on June 24, 2005," HLL said in a release issued to the BSE today.The board of directors, at its meeting on April 29, decided to co-opt Manwani as an additional director on the board while Banga is not to seek re-election as non-executive director at the AGM, the release said.Meanwhile, a release from HLL said the current national management comprising M K Sharma, vice chairman, D Sundaram, Arun Adhikari and S Ravindranath continues unchanged."I feel privileged to be serving HLL as the non-executive chairman. While there may be competitive challenges, HLL is strongly placed to overcome these, and will continue to play a very significant role to serve the needs of Indian consumers," Manwani said.
