TVS Suzuki board to meet on Oct. 11.

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 3. The board of TVS-Suzuki will meet on October 11, ostensibly to take on record the unaudited financial results for the half-year ended September 30, 2001.

The company has informed the Madras Stock Exchange that the meeting will also consider a name change following the recent settlement on the overseas parent Suzuki Motor Corporation pulling out of the joint venture. The board will also consider convening an extra-ordinary general body meeting of the shareholders to approve the aforesaid proposals.

Though Mr.Venu Srinivasan-led Indian promoters appear to have staged a coup of sort by getting SMC to sell its stake at Rs. 15 per share to the local parent of the JV, observers feel that the Japanese company may not have lost at all in the end. They cite the huge royalty that SMC had received from the JV over the years to drive home their point. Since, the JV has begun to dish out new products sans the Japanese technology, its relevance to SMC has also become somewhat. This, perhaps, explains the Japanese company's willingness to exit at an allegedly low price.

There is, however, a school of thought which feels that the so- called settlement has not addressed the issue of corporate governance. What is in it for non-promoter shareholders? they ask. Could the company not bought back SMC shares and extinguished them? If it had opted for the buy-back method, the settlement would have gone a long way in helping the cause of shareholders of all hues, it is felt.

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Section  : Business
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