Shapoor Mistry, eldest son of construction baron Pallonji Mistry, will replace the senior Mistry as the chairman of the board of Forbes Gokak, an engineering and textiles company they acquired from the Tatas in 2001.
Earlier, Cyrus Mistry, the younger son of Pallonji Mistry too was inducted on the board as an additional director. Shapoor has been a member of the board for sometime now.
The move could be a sign of things to come, as Pallonji Mistry, the largest shareholder of Tata Sons with an 18 per cent stake, has expressed the desire to nominate on of his sons as a replacement when he steps down from the board of Tata Sons next year.
Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, in an interview with Business Standard last year, had confirmed that Mistry had spoken to him about one of the sons replacing him, though no final decision on the issue had been taken.
Both the Mistry brothers are on the board members of some of the Tata companies. Cyrus, in fact, is a director of Tata Power, one of the largest Tata companies.
Mistry's links with the Tata group have only strengthened over the years with Noel Tata, Ratan's half brother, becoming his son-in-law. Noel is seen in some quarters as a strong contender to replace Ratan Tata as group chairman.
The Shapoorji Pallonji group currently owns around 70 per cent stake in the company. The Pallonji bought out the Tatas in 2001 and then made a subsequent open offer for the company's stock.
After this the company faced a possible hostile takeover threat when Pawankumar Sanwarmal acquired a 14.80 per cent stake in the company and announced a counter offer. The entire drama ended tamely with Sanwarmal selling his stake to the Pallonji Mistry group.
Pallonji Mistry, considered one of the richest Indians, had earlier been the chairman of the Associated Cement Companies before the Tatas sold their stake to Gujarat Ambuja.
