Tata Sons

The Tatas' subsidiary quoted Rs 18,000 crore of enterprise value for Air India, Divestment Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey announced. There were only two bidders in the final stage of divestment. Besides, the Tatas' subsidiary, the second bidding entity was a consortium led by industrialist Ajay Singh.

On Tuesday, a source-based report by a newswire stated that Tata Sons is considering "historic revamp of its leadership structure by creating a Chief Executive Officer's role to help improve corporate governance". Chandrasekaran's tenure as the Chairman of Tata Sons is coming to an end in February next year. The vacancy created after him fuelled speculation of a revamp in the leadership structure at the conglomerate.

According to the company, E-grocery has been one of the fastest growing segments in the consumer e-commerce space and its growth is propelled with India's rising consumption and digital penetration. "The current pandemic has further accelerated its adoption as consumers seek the convenience of ordering quality groceries delivered safely at home."

In a statement, Quess said that with this transaction, Conneqt will become its wholly-owned subsidiary. Quess had acquired 51 per cent of Conneqt in November 2017 and further increased its stake in Conneqt from 51 per cent to 70 per cent in May 2019 through infusion of primary capital, which was used to fund the acquisition of Allsec Technologies Limited.

Although the top court on Friday allowed all the appeals of the Tata Group and dismissed the appeal of the SP Group, it did not decide on the prayer of the latter for its exit from Tata Sons in lieu of "fair compensation", leaving the matter unresolved.

Tata will conclude the deal at a total of $1.2 billion in a mix of a primary and secondary sale of shares to get a 60% stake in BigBasket. This would mean that two of the major stakeholder in the company, Chinese Alibaba and private equity firm Abraaj Group would be given full-exit options by Tata. 

Notably, the Central government has ceased to be the largest promoter of listed entities after 20 years. The development comes both on the back of rising stake of Tata Sons in its listed entities and declining market capitalisation of state-run companies. Tata Sons' stake in the conglomerate's listed companies has increased over 34 per cent in the past one year to Rs 9.28 lakh crore, which is higher than the Government of India's stake in public sector undertakings, Rs 9.24 lakh crore.

The budget airline is a JV in which Tata Sons owns 51 per cent stake, while 49 per cent is held with AAIL. After the transaction, Tata's shareholding will go upto 83.67 per cent, while that of AAIL will come down to 16.33 per cent. In a regulatory filing made to Bursa Malaysia, AirAsia Group Berhad said the transaction via a share purchase agreement with Tata Sons was agreed by AAIL's Board.