Raymond's Sighania brothers hit back at Gautam Singhania over property issue

Moneycontrol News

Amid the ongoing dispute within the members of Raymond's promoter family over their JK House property in Mumbai, Akshaypat and Anant Singhania, cousins of company chairman Gautam Singhania, hit back at him on Monday in an interview with Economic Times. 

In 2007, when JK House was up for redevelopment, Raymond got into an agreement with its subsidiary Pashmina Holdings, which had leased the property from Raymond. The agreement said that once the property was renovated, for which Raymond would bear the expense itself, Pashmina Holdings will sell the flats back to the tenants at a price of Rs 9,200 per square foot carpet area.

Until then, Pashmina Holdings had sub-let the flats in JK House to various members of the Singhania family, the original tenants.

In June this year, at the company's annual general meeting, Gautam Singhania asked shareholders to vote against the proposal of selling the flats to the tenants as it would be a major loss to the company, while abstaining from the vote himself since he was a related party. The family is now waiting for a final verdict from the court.

"For any contract, there is a give and take. I have given you my house, now you are saying that I won't give it back to you," said Anant Singhania, terming Gautam's actions as "absurd."

Both Akshaypat and Anant agree that the market prices have gone above what they were in 2007 but said that JK House was supposed to be handed over to the family within 3 years and not 10.

Moreover, JK House was supposed to be a 14-storey building originally but is now a 37-storey one, complete with its own helipad and swimming pools.

"Did we ask you to spend that kind of money? Did we ask you to make 37 floors [instead of the original 14], 10 floors of parking, helipad and swimming pools? And then you are loading that cost on to me?" asked Akshay Singhania.

He also questioned his cousin Gautam's and the company's intentions with regard to the property. "Okay, the company does not intend to give it to the four tenants. Then what is it planning to do?" he asked.

The brothers have now left the outcome of the family dispute to the court. "There is no best or worst way to resolve this dispute. It only depends on what the courts say. Out of court, what will we do?" said Akshay.

The brothers also pointed that this dispute has ruined their brand name. "This has destroyed the Raymond brand. The values of Raymond are 'complete man', 'feels like heaven', family values. Where are the family values?" said Anant Singhania.