Reliance Ownership Issue Resolved!

Reliance Ownership Issue Resolved!

The seven-month-long ownership row in the Reliance empire was resolved early on Saturday morning with RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil reaching an agreement to divide the assets.

The board of directors of the flagship company RIL, chaired by Mukesh, has been summoned to meet in Mumbai shortly after 1000 hours to put its seal of approval on the deal hammered out during a marathon all night meeting between the two sides that ended at 7 a.m.

As part of the settlement, high-level changes in the group companies, including stepping down of Mukesh's close aide Anand Jain as director of IPCL, would be effected soon.

Although the restructuring and legal issues would take some time, a formal statement on settlement is expected very shortly, highly placed sources said.

As part of the settlement, believed to have been inked between the two brothers on Saturday morning, Mukesh would retain flagship company RIL and IPCL while Anil would get Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Energy and Reliance Capital.

Insistence from their mother Kokila Ben, widow of group's founder Chairman Dhirubhai Ambani, expedited the settlement after prolonged negotiations between the two sides that started nearly four months back based on recommendations of ICICI Bank chairman and family friend K V Kamath.

Only after the board meeting of RIL, details of the settlement could be announced, sources said.

The fight between the two brothers started in November and witnessed a spate of allegations and counter-allegations from both the sides on operations of the group companies.

Kamath had been asked by Kokila in December to work out a settlement formula along with valuation of family assets and holdings in the group.

In the longest and fiercest battle of corporate India, the feud between the brothers had kept over 3 million share-holders desperately waiting for the settlement.

Mukesh and Anil had met for the first time last week in connection with the settlement process. Corporate and financial honchos representing the two brothers had been working for the last four days to close a deal even ahead of earlier target date of July 6, the death anniversary of Dhirubhai Ambani.

Kokilaben Ambani's statement

Kokilaben Ambani has issued a statement announcing the settlement between her two sons, Mukesh and Anil over the ownership issues in the Reliance empire.

"With the blessings of Srinathji, I have today amicably resolved the issues between my two sons, Mukesh and Anil, keeping in mind the proud legacy of my husband, Dhirubhai Ambani.

I am confident that both Mukesh and Anil, will resolutely uphold the values of their father and work towards protecting and enhancing value for over three million shareholders of the Reliance Group, which has been the foundational principle on which my husband built India's largest private sector enterprise.

Mukesh will have the responsibility for Reliance Industries and IPCL while Anil will have responsibility for Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Energy and Reliance Capital.

My husband's foresight and vision and the values he stood for combined with my blessings will guide them to scale new heights."

As per the business-standard sensex might cross 7000 on monday after this reliance battle.