Tata Sons Ltd Wednesday appointed Cyrus Pallonji Mistry the successor to Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, the media reports said.
Mr. Mistry has been appointed as the group’s deputy chairman immediately and will take over as chairman after Ratan Tata retires when he turns 75 in December 2012, Tata Sons said.
The appointment of Cyrus Mistry puts an end to the suspense over the most keenly awaited appointment in corporate India.
Tata Group has been trying to find a replacement for Ratan Tata for more than a year.
The 43-year old Mr. Mistry will be the sixth chairman of the group, which was founded by Jamsetji Nusserwani Tata in 1868 and now comprises of over 100 companies in businesses like automobiles, steel, telecommunications, beverages and information technology.
“The Board of Directors of Tata Sons at its meeting today appointed Cyrus P Mistry as the Deputy Chairman. He will work with Ratan N Tata over the next year and take over from him when Tata retires in December 2012,” Tata Sons said in a statement.
Who is Cyrus Mistry
43-year old Cyrus Mistry is the son of construction tycoon Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry. Valued at $8.8 billion, Pallonji holds an 18.5% stake in Tata Sons, making him the single largest shareholder. He is the younger son of Pallonji and is married to Rohika Chagla, the daughter of lawyer Iqbal Chagla. Cyrus Mistry is a civil engineering graduate from Imperial College London and holds a master degree in management from the London Business School.
Career:
§ Cyrus Mistryhas been a director of Tata Sons since September 1, 2006
§ He served as a Director of Tata Elxsi Limited, from September 24, 1990 to October 26, 2009 and was a Director of Tata Power Co. Ltd until September 18, 2006.
§ Mr Mistry serves as Chairman of the Board of Shapoorji Pallonji Group and Afcons Infrastructure Limited.
§ Mr Mistry also serves as Director of various companies including - Forvol International Services Ltd, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Ltd, Cyrus Investments Ltd, Shapoorji Pallonji Power Co. Ltd, Buildbazaar Technologies (India) Pvt Ltd, Sterling Investment Corporation Pvt. Ltd, Samalpatti Power Co. Pvt. Ltd, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. (Rajkot) Pvt. Ltd, Shapoorji Pallonji Finance Ltd, Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital Co. Ltd, Oman Shapoorji Construction Co. Ltd and Muscat Pallonji Shapoorji & Co. Pvt. Ltd.
§ Mr Mistry has been a Non-executive Director of Forbes Gokak Limited since June 23, 2003.
§ Mr. Mistry is Fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers. He holds BE (Civil Engineering) from Imperial College, London and Master of Science in Management from London Business School. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Mumbai University.
§ An avid golfer, Mr Mistry is also a founder member of the Construction Federation of India. He is a trustee of the Breach Candy Hospital Trust, Mumbai. He is also on the board of Imperial College India Foundation.
Ratan Tata
Ratan Naval Tata was the chairman of Tata Sons since 1991. He was also the chairman of major Tata companies like Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, The Indian Hotels Company and Tata Teleservices. He has contributed towards transforming the diversified conglomerate Tata Sons with his multi-billion dollar purchases of businesses abroad such as European steel company Corus and British luxury car makers like Jaguar and Land Rover.
