<p>The Murugappa Family on Sunday announced it has settled long-standing disputes and differences with the family branch of the group’s late Executive Chairperson M V Murugappan. His daughter Valli Arunachalam, a nuclear scientist, has been fighting for the past five years to get a seat on the male-dominated board of the holding company, Ambadi Investments Ltd (AIL).</p>.In pursuit of AIL board seat, Valli Arunachalam issues legal notice to Murugappa family.<p>However, the Murugappa Family of the Rs 74,200 crore Murugappa Group, which is over 100 years old, didn’t reveal the terms of the family arrangement between the branch of Murugappan on one side and the rest of the family members on the other side.</p>.<p>A joint statement issued by both sides said the members of the Murugappa family first discussed and concluded the terms of the family arrangement amongst themselves at a meeting in the presence of their respective advisors. </p>.<p>“This understanding was recorded today by way of a memorandum entered into by the members of the Murugappa family with the family branch of late Mr M V Murugappan (including Mrs Valli Arunachalam and Mrs Vellachi Murugappan). The family members are committed to undertake the necessary transactions to effect the family arrangement within the next 90 days,” the statement read. </p>.<p>The family arrangement not only ensures that all issues between the members are settled but also agrees to withdraw all legal proceedings between the family groups after all “agreed steps specified in the family settlement have been completed.”</p><p>No listed company forming part of the Murugappa Group is a party to the family arrangement, and nothing in the family arrangement relates to the management or control of, or grants any special rights to the parties in, any such companies.</p>.<p>The differences between the two sides arose after Murugappan’s demise in 2017 following the family’s refusal to provide representation to the latter’s family as he didn’t have a male heir. Valli Arunachalam, her mother M V Valli Murugappan and sister Vellachi Murugappan jointly hold 8.15 per cent share bequeathed to them by Murugappan. </p><p>Despite numerous representations by Valli Arunachalam, the family members refused to entertain her demand to be inducted as a non-executive director of the board. The company, by policy, doesn’t appoint women to its board. </p><p>After the board formally rejected her bid in September 2020, Valli Arunachalam issued a legal notices to members of the Murugappa family, and others and in 2021 moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai, seeking a waiver on the minimum shareholding requirement of 10 per cent to maintain the case against AIL. </p><p> The family arrangement is envisaged primarily to bring about amity and maintain goodwill amongst the members of the Murugappa family, and to maintain the overall harmony within the family, in this generation, as well as in the future, the joint statement added. </p><p> In the legal notice that Valli Arunachalam sent in October 2020, she had said her family had seemingly reached the end of the road for an amicable settlement after the Murugappa family voted unanimously to reject her appointment to the AIL board. </p><p> Contending that each entreaty was met with some combination of silence, combativeness, false assurances, and delay tactics, Valli Arunachalam had said they have no confidence that their “substantial stake” in the business will be safeguarded by the Murugappa family given they “treated our family branch over the past three years.” </p><p> “What is clear to us after three years is that the family’s tactics are nothing more than a robe to conceal their socially regressive gender bias. With only female heirs, the historically male dominated family business is effectively asking that my family assume a second class standing in AIL without any of the rights or privileges enjoyed by other families (many of whom have equal economic interests),” she had said. </p>
<p>The Murugappa Family on Sunday announced it has settled long-standing disputes and differences with the family branch of the group’s late Executive Chairperson M V Murugappan. His daughter Valli Arunachalam, a nuclear scientist, has been fighting for the past five years to get a seat on the male-dominated board of the holding company, Ambadi Investments Ltd (AIL).</p>.In pursuit of AIL board seat, Valli Arunachalam issues legal notice to Murugappa family.<p>However, the Murugappa Family of the Rs 74,200 crore Murugappa Group, which is over 100 years old, didn’t reveal the terms of the family arrangement between the branch of Murugappan on one side and the rest of the family members on the other side.</p>.<p>A joint statement issued by both sides said the members of the Murugappa family first discussed and concluded the terms of the family arrangement amongst themselves at a meeting in the presence of their respective advisors. </p>.<p>“This understanding was recorded today by way of a memorandum entered into by the members of the Murugappa family with the family branch of late Mr M V Murugappan (including Mrs Valli Arunachalam and Mrs Vellachi Murugappan). The family members are committed to undertake the necessary transactions to effect the family arrangement within the next 90 days,” the statement read. </p>.<p>The family arrangement not only ensures that all issues between the members are settled but also agrees to withdraw all legal proceedings between the family groups after all “agreed steps specified in the family settlement have been completed.”</p><p>No listed company forming part of the Murugappa Group is a party to the family arrangement, and nothing in the family arrangement relates to the management or control of, or grants any special rights to the parties in, any such companies.</p>.<p>The differences between the two sides arose after Murugappan’s demise in 2017 following the family’s refusal to provide representation to the latter’s family as he didn’t have a male heir. Valli Arunachalam, her mother M V Valli Murugappan and sister Vellachi Murugappan jointly hold 8.15 per cent share bequeathed to them by Murugappan. </p><p>Despite numerous representations by Valli Arunachalam, the family members refused to entertain her demand to be inducted as a non-executive director of the board. The company, by policy, doesn’t appoint women to its board. </p><p>After the board formally rejected her bid in September 2020, Valli Arunachalam issued a legal notices to members of the Murugappa family, and others and in 2021 moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai, seeking a waiver on the minimum shareholding requirement of 10 per cent to maintain the case against AIL. </p><p> The family arrangement is envisaged primarily to bring about amity and maintain goodwill amongst the members of the Murugappa family, and to maintain the overall harmony within the family, in this generation, as well as in the future, the joint statement added. </p><p> In the legal notice that Valli Arunachalam sent in October 2020, she had said her family had seemingly reached the end of the road for an amicable settlement after the Murugappa family voted unanimously to reject her appointment to the AIL board. </p><p> Contending that each entreaty was met with some combination of silence, combativeness, false assurances, and delay tactics, Valli Arunachalam had said they have no confidence that their “substantial stake” in the business will be safeguarded by the Murugappa family given they “treated our family branch over the past three years.” </p><p> “What is clear to us after three years is that the family’s tactics are nothing more than a robe to conceal their socially regressive gender bias. With only female heirs, the historically male dominated family business is effectively asking that my family assume a second class standing in AIL without any of the rights or privileges enjoyed by other families (many of whom have equal economic interests),” she had said. </p>