Murugappa family completes family arrangement with Valli Arunachalam; latter to withdraw legal proceedings

Murugappa Group was founded in 1900 (Rrepresentative Image)

The Murugappa family, which runs one of the largest industrial conglomerates in South India, has announced that it has completed the family arrangement with the branch of the late M V Murugappan (former head of Carborundum Universal Ltd).

Valli Arunachalam, daughter of the late Murugappan, has been engaged in a bitter legal wrangle with other members of the family, seeking an equal opportunity to run the affairs of the group's holding company.

The late Murrugappan had only daughters. Valli wanted a board seat in Ambadi Investments Ltd (AIL), the holding company of the group. Alternatively, she wanted family members to buy out her stake. Valli and her sister together hold an 8.15 percent stake in AIL.

Though she went public with her demand and even preferred to take the legal route, the Murugappa family restrained itself from engaging in any open debate on the issue. Both sides saw the futility of prolonging the dispute and decided to settle the issue out of court within a timeframe.

"The Murugappa family is pleased to announce that its members have undertaken the necessary actions to effect the family arrangement, the terms of which had been recorded by way of a memorandum on August 20, 2023," according to a notification filed by Tube Investments with the BSE.

"With this, the family arrangement with the family branch of the late M V Murugappan is now effective. In the upcoming days, the parties will take steps to withdraw all legal proceedings between the family groups and complete some pending formalities. No listed company forming part of the Murugappa Group is a party to the family arrangement, and nothing in the family arrangement relates to the management or control of, or grants any special rights to the parties in, any such companies," it further said.

The stock exchange notification, however, does not contain any details of the action taken to give effect to the family arrangement with Valli Arunachalam. Both sides aren't commenting any further on this matter.

The Murugappa family vs Valli Arunachalam dispute put the spotlight on the rights of female scions in business families in India.