Tata Sons has reportedly constituted a team to draw up a contingency funding plan to buy out the Mistry family-led Shapoorji Pallonji Group's 18.4 per cent stake in the company.
The taskforce comprises top group officials namely Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Ankur Verma, Bhaskar Bhat, Noel Tata, and Saurabh Agrawal, the Economic Times reported, citing sources, and added that while the finance team of the holding company of Tata Group is actively involved, other top officials are also being consulted.
The SP Group, which values its stake in Tata Sons at Rs 1.78 lakh crore, had said last week that it wants to end its seven-decade-long relationship with the Tata Group after the Supreme Court forbade it from selling or pledging any Tata shares until October 28.
Tata Sons had, however, rejected the separation offer, which officials said happens only in partnerships.
Meanwhile, the SP Group has already asked for the top court's permission to invoke a provision in its Articles of Association (AoA) enabling it to squeeze out shareholders in case it was not feasible to set aside the pledges.
The Article 75 of AoA empowers Tatas, via a special resolution, to squeeze out the Mistry family by buying out their stakeholding at fair market value.
"There are no discussions with external investors and no immediacy to the whole thing. It is up to the courts to decide. We are in no hurry to buy the shares," a source told the publication.
The SP Group is currently working on devising a strategy under the separation plan to ensure that it gets a fair valuation for its 18.4 per cent stake and may file an additional submission in the SC on the matter, the news report stated.