THE END, not the right words to start any article with. But that’s the
only way to pen down something that has kept the entire nation at the
edges of their seats for past seven months. Finally, last week end, the
tussle between Ambani brothers headed for a draw, when both sides agreed for
an amicable settlement, none-the-less, has brought respite not just for
Ambani family, but for the millions of investors of the Reliance Group.
It was a bit of fag-end of the saga, as there were speculations that it
would be announced on July 6, 2005, Dhirubhai Ambani’s death
anniversary.
Or, in front of thousands of shareholders when the group’s flagship,
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), held its annual general meeting in mid-
or end-July. But the truce between the two warring Ambani brothers, Mukesh
and Anil, came over a weekend—June 18, 2005, a day with no special
significance in the history.
But, who cares! All’s well that ends well.
There were many key players who played a ‘be-all and end-all’ role in
this Ambani saga. Lets have a look at the main cast of the Ambani saga that
has kept all of us engrossed for past seven months.
Mukesh Ambani: He opened a can of worms with his candid admission in a
TV interview on the famous ’ownership’ tussle. The 48-year-old chemical
engineer studied business at California’s Stanford University and
joined RIL in 1981. He is known as the boardroom boy, drawing strategies and
business expansion plans of the Reliance group. Reliance Infocomm is
his brainchild, though it has now been handed over to his younger sibling
Anil. Mukesh gets the group flagship Reliance Industries Ltd and IPCL.
Anil Ambani: The 46-year-old, ex-MTV youth icon, is more popular in
social circles and happening of the two brothers. He has had always been the
public face of Reliance. A science graduate and an MBA from the Wharton
School, University of Pennsylvania, he is credited with having
pioneered the company’s forays into the overseas capital markets. He has been
conferred various awards including ’The Entrepreneur of the Decade
Award’ by the Bombay Management Association in October, 2002. Anil, in the
settlement formula, gets Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Energy, and
Reliance Capital.
Kokilaben Ambani : Probably was the most popular mother of the year.
(Would have easily defeated all other saas and bahus belonging to Ekta Kapoor
stable, in popularity charts). Her involvement in the group has always
been limited. She has always kept a low profile and out of the limelight,
but this time around she was forced to take centrestage after the empire
that her husband built single-handedly began to tremble due to confrontation
between her two sons.
K V Kamath : ICICI Bank CEO, K V Kamath, was the mathematician or the
scorer in the contest. He was the one who did all the calculations and
carved out a formula for the final settlement. His relations with the
Reliance Group goes way back to the 1970s. As a young officer in ICICI
just after he started his career, one of the first companies that he dealt
with was Reliance. Even FM lauded the part he played as an arbitrator in
the
dispute.
Apart from this, there were other players as well who are worth
mentioning
here-
Tina and Nita Ambani (Wives)
Nina Kothari and Dipti Salgaonkar (Sisters)
V Balasubramaniam, Anand Jain and Satish Seth (Arms and legs)
Nikhil & Hital Meswani (Cousins)
Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Manoj Modi (Near and dear ones)
In the end, we all can be happy about the fact the Reliance did not
reach a bitter end or dead end. Seven months back we saw the beginning of the
end of another family business and now seven months later we can say that
the break-up was inevitable, and means justified the end. Now, both Anil
and Mukesh do see light at the end of the tunnel and there is in no ways
this can be seen as the end of world for Reliance group. Since, this entire
Ambani saga reminds us of some Bollywood masala blockbuster, I would
like to end it in typical bollywood style. After the end, they lived happily
ever after.