Valli Arunachalam (File photo)
CHENNAI: Valli Arunachalam, a fourth-generation family member at the Murugappa group, and other promoter family members have buried the hatchet. After a nearly three-year-old fracas, the group is offering her a board representation in Ambadi Investments, an unlisted holding company.
The AGM of the company is scheduled for September 21.
Arunachalam had alleged gender discrimination for keeping her out of the affairs of the company after her father died. Arunachalam, her sister and her mother were bequeathed a stake of over 8% in Ambadi Investments upon the demise of her father M V Murugappan in September 2017.
Since then, requests to the family to buy their stake amicably at a fair valuation or to allow representation on the board of the company fell on deaf years, she alleged. She had warned the family members that her patience was running thin.
“I am glad the family seems to be seeing the light of day, and the board (which consists mainly of family members) has placed my appointment on the AGM agenda. Given the family controls majority shareholding in the company, I would like to believe that it is a foregone conclusion that I will be appointed as a director at the AGM,” she said in reply to a TOI questionnaire.
Murugappa group did not wish to comment as it was the affairs of a privately held holding company. Murugappa group runs 28 businesses and earns nearly Rs 37,000 crore in annual revenues and more than 50,000 employees.
