Efforts to consolidate were resisted in early 90s: Ratan Tata in book

Ratan Tata, search for whose successor has just started, has said that holding company Tata Sons
did not have the legal or moral right to control numerous firms in early 1990s and efforts to make them
a meaningful group were resisted internally.

"There was a question ... As to whether we had the right to claim to manage these companies. In fact,
we didn't have the legal right, or even the moral right, to manage them," Tata, credited to take the
group global after taking charge in 1991, was quoted as saying in a book 'Tata The Evolution of a
Corporate Brand'.

According to the book efforts to make the companies work together as a meaningful and
recognisable group were resisted with great vigour and some executives like Tata Steel's then chief
Russi Mody solved the problem by stepping down.

Incidentally the book was released around the time when Tata Sons announced a search panel for a
successor to Ratan Tata. The next Chairman's name is expected to be finalised by March 2011.
Earlier, Tata told the shareholders at Tata Chemicals' annual general meeting that "the Tata Group is
an Indian Group and we should not be looking (at it) as a Parsi group. The successor should be the
right person and not anti-Parsi or pro-Parsi."

Mody, who was once touted to become Tata Group chairman before Ratan Tata took over, earlier this
week had said that someone from the Tata family alone should spearhead the group conglomerate
adding any outsider would not sound good.

The search process, to be conducted by a five member panel comprising former Tata Sons vice
chairman N A Soonawala, senior Group directors R K Krishnakumar and Cyrus Mistry, Group adviser
and lawyer Shirin Bharucha and influential British businessman Lord Bhattacharya, has led to
speculation that Ratan Tata?s half brother Noel Tata, who is increasingly being given more
responsibilities in the group, would be the next man in charge

As per the book, Tata Sons made its wishes known and gradually persuaded the reluctant boards
that it was in their best interest to work together and return to the old model of collaboration.
 As Ratan Tata is quoted in the book, "over time, there has been a fair amount of convergence".
Today, Tata group is the wealthiest conglomerate in the country in terms of market capitalization of
listed entities at Rs 3.7 lakh crore followed by Mukesh Ambani led Reliance group

ICICI Bank fixes Aug 25 as record date for BoR share swap:

MUMBAI: ICICI Bank today said it has fixed August 25 as the record date for the purpose of
share swap following the merger of Bank of Rajasthan

with itseIf. It has fixed August 25,2010, as the record date for the purpose of ascertaining the
shareholders of BoR, who will be entitled to shares of ICICI Bank in the ratio 1:4.7, ICICI Bank
informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
For 118 shares of BoR, the shareholders would get 25 shares of ICICI Bank, it said.
In case of dissenting shareholders of ICICI Bank, they may be paid at the rate of Rs 885.28 per share
and in case of dissenting shareholders of Bank of Rajasthan, they may be paid at the rate of Rs
154.50 per share, it said……As part of scheme of amalgamation, it has been decided that no
fractional share certificate would be issued to shareholders of ICICI Bank. The bank would instead
consolidate all such fractional entitlement, like half shares or quarter shares, after the share swap
into a trust.
The net proceeds of such fractional entitlement will be transfered into account of such shareholders
not later than 15 days after allotment, it said. private sector lender, ICICI Bank.