 "Cyrus Mistry and his family form 73% of TCS public votes")
Cyrus Mistry and his family entities form the biggest block of public shareholders, who voted against his removal from the board of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). These entities together owned 11.44 million shares among themselves, amounting to 73% of the non-institutional votes polled and 94% of such votes that went against the proposal. While Mistry himself owned 4.16 million TCS shares, according to the latest annual report of the company, his brother, father and group investment firms owned over seven million shares among themselves, it is learnt.
Cyrus’ elder brother Shapoor Mistry owned 4.15 million shares, while father Pallonji Mistry owned 981,200 shares. SP Group flagship Shapoorji & Pallonji (SPCL) owned 899,148 shares and the investment firms, which hold the 18.4% Tata Sons’ stake Cyrus Investments (600,000) and Sterling Investments (644,800), owned the rest. The Mistry camp did not respond to calls and text messages asking for the details of their family holdings and their voting details. When contacted, TCS refused to comment.
A day after the extraordinary general meeting (EGM), Mistry wrote to shareholders on Wednesday: “A reported 78% of the votes cast by retail investors was against the resolution to remove me,” adding: “The voting in TCS is, therefore, a strong signal from minority shareholders that the need for governance reform must not go unheeded.”
But, if one takes out the Mistry family votes, the TCS retail investors seem to have favoured the proposal to remove him. Of the total public votes of 87.86 million, only 15.56 million, or 17.7%, votes were polled at the EGM.
Of this, 12.13 million votes were against the proposal, making Mistry refer to the 78% in his favour. But, if one takes out 11.44 million owned by the Mistry family out of the equation, the votes against the resolution shrink to 694,710. Against this, votes in favour of the resolution stood at 3.42 million. This would mean 83% of the non-Mistry retail shareholders voted in favour of Tatas.
Family votes
Cyrus Mistry: 4,163,526
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Shapoor Mistry: 4,155,187
Pallonji Mistry: 981,200
SPCL: 899,148
Sterling Investments: 644,800
Cyrus Investments: 600,000