At separate board meetings held on Tuesday evening, Reliance Industries representatives Sandeep Tandon and L V Merchant resigned from these companies after naming Anil Ambani and his nominees as new directors.
The four companies had three-member boards each with two RIL representatives and one Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group nominee.
In the reconstituted board of Reliance Natural Resources, SL Rao, Bakul Dholakia, JP Chalasani and JL Bajaj joined as ADAG nominees. Similarly, Reliance Capital Ventures will now have Gautam Doshi, J Ramachandran and SP Talwar on its board, while Reliance Energy Ventures will have Satish Seth, VR Galkar and SL Rao.
The ADAG nominees on the RCVL board are Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Rajendra Chitale and SP Talwari. Anil Ambani will be on the boards of all four companies. Chalasani was on the board of RNRL, Doshi on RCoVL, Seth on REVL and Jhunjhunwala on RCVL when these companies were under RIL's control.
The management control of these four companies had become a bone of contention on two grounds: one, ADAG was keen on taking over the control before their listing with the stock exchanges; two, ADAG had contested agreements signed between Reliance Industries and these companies on issues like gas supply, trademark management and non-competition.
Reliance
ADAG had earlier indicated that it would review the gas supply agreement signed between RIL and RNRL. JP Chalasani, an RNRL director, had said last week that ADAG would take steps to amend the gas supply agreement. He alleged that the gas supply agreement between RIL and RNRL deviated from the settlement between Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani.
Sandeep Tandon, outgoing chairman of these companies said, "The meetings were held in a cordial atmosphere. All contentious issues were settled. And now that the control and ownership have been transferred to ADAG, we hope that the companies will be listed shortly so that the small shareholders can unlock value."
RIL sources said the ownership had also been transferred to ADAG. "We have transferred bulk of RIL's 37 per cent stake to ADAG. Some shares are in the process of transfer," sources pointed out.
In a media statement issued late Tuesday evening, RIL said the reconstituted boards under the control of Anil Ambani would be expected to take remaining procedural steps for listing.
RIL had already initiated the procedure. An ADAG source said the group would honour its commitment to the shareholders and list the four companies by March.
Company Affairs Minister PC Gupta said the demerger should be carried as per the high court order and the four companies should be listed as soon as possible in public interest.
