Ambani brothers bury hatchet; agree for cordial competition

LDALL AMBANIS

New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) Burying the hatchet, warring
Indian industrialists, the Ambani brothers Sunday dumped the
contentious non-compete agreements signed in 2006 as part of
the division of Reliance empire, saying this would eliminate
any room for "disputes".
As a result of this, younger sibling Anil Ambani led
group can enter into oil, gas, retail and petrochemical
businesses while elder Mukesh-led Reliance India Limited could
make forays into telecom, power and financial sector arena.
The agreements, approved by the boards of RIL and ADAG
group companies, were announced within days of the two
brothers meeting the Indian Prime Minister and top Cabinet
ministers and government officials in Delhi.
There were also speculation that the deal was a
culmination of the discussions between Mukesh and Anil, but no
explanation came from either side over how the agreement was
arrived at.
After the Supreme Court verdict on years of long,
bitter gas dispute, the top lieutenants were reported to be
holding informal discussions in Mumbai.
Both RIL and ADAG also announced to expeditiously
negotiate gas deal in accordance with the Supreme Court order
earlier this month, the groups of both Mukesh and Anil vowed
to fulfil vision of their father Dhirubhai Ambani, after whose
death they fought acrimoniously and separated.
Rejecting Anil group firm Reliance Natural Resources
(RNRL) plea for concessional gas from RIL, the Supreme Court
on May 7 had ruled that though the family settlement had no
legal sanctity, the two sides should renegotiate the gas
agreement within the framework of government policies.
Before the agreements were ratified by the boards of
the respective group companies, top officials of the
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and Anil Ambani Group
had long sessions.
As a goodwill gesture, RIL said that it would not
enter the gas-based power generation arena till 2022, for
which two sides would enter into a separate agreement.
In identical statements released at the same time,
both said, "RIL and Reliance ADA group are hopeful and
confident that all these steps would create an overall
environment of harmony, cooperation and collaboration between
the two groups, thereby further enhancing overall shareholder
value for shareholders of both the groups".
"All existing non-compete agreement between the two
groups executed in January 2006 are cancelled," the Anil
Ambani group said in a statement.
"A new, simpler non-compete agreement executed limited
to only gas-based power generation. RIL and RNRL will
expeditiously negotiate gas supply arrangement as per the
Supreme Court order and hope to conclude negotiations
very soon," it added.
It may be recalled that the non-compete agreements and
controversial right of first refusals had become the bone of
contention between them and they fought bitterly over the
setting up of a power plant at RIL's upcoming SEZ in Haryana,
and Anil-led Reliance Communications failed deal to acquire
South African telecom giant MTS. PTI SKB
MYR


The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive
use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged
information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please
notify the sender immediately and destroy
all copies of this message and any attachments contained in it.



Delete & Prev | Delete & Next
Move to: