Cyrus Mistry not looking at selling stake in Tata Sons

Moneycontrol BureauAmong the many challenges that the newly-minted Chairman of Tata Sons, N Chandrasekaran, will have to deal with, a key one will be an irate stakeholder – Cyrus P Mistry, whose family owns 18.5 percent in Tata Sons.Following the ouster of Mistry, both sides have been engaged in a bitter war of words, with the Mistry camp raising several questions on the group’s corporate governance standards. People close to Cyrus Mistry claim that the family is not intending to sell its 18.5 percent stake in Tata Sons any time soon. The family’s relationship with the group goes back 75 years and an equity relationship that is 50 years old. There is an emotional connect along with the commercial aspect and the family has no intention of walking away from it just yet.Mistry is fighting to return to the group in any shape or form. He wants a governance structure to be put in place so that the interest of the stakeholders is protected. Selling is not an option that has been discussed, said sources close to Cyrus Mistry.In October, when Ratan Tata returned as the interim chairman of Tata Sons, the trusts had held talks with several sovereign wealth funds and private equity funds to acquire the 18.5 percent stake held by the Mistry family, if they wanted to exit.While selling is not an option at this point of time, with the battle reaching the courts of law, the Mistry family does not believe that it is something that is cast in stone either. A truce is always possible, claimed another source close to the family.