April 12: US petrochemicals giant Dow Chemical, which apparently was in Reliance Industries’ sights for an equity stake, today fired two executives for allegedly holding unauthorised talks for sale of the company.

Dow chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris said in a statement that the company was terminating the services of Pedro Reinhard, a senior adviser, board member and former chief financial officer, and Romeo Kreinberg, an officer.

They were engaged in “business activity that was highly inappropriate and a clear violation of its (company’s) code of business conduct”, the statement said.

“Reinhard and Kreinberg were involved in unauthorised discussions with third parties about the potential acquisition of the company.”

“I think I speak for all employees when I say we are greatly saddened by the disrespect shown by our former colleagues. But we will move on to shape our future with an even greater resolve to execute our strategy and deliver value to our shareholders,” Liveris said.

Reinhard was a speaker at a business conference hosted by the University of Cologne in Germany late last month. Mohan Murti, Reliance Industries’ chief representative for Europe, also addressed the meeting a day after Reihnard’s speech.

On March 28, Reinhard spoke at a session titled ‘Emerging Giants: Power Shifters of Tomorrow’, at which Meera Shankar, India’s ambassador to Germany, was one of the panelists.

The next day, Murti participated in a session titled ‘Challenges for Emerging Mega Cities: Urban Energy’.

Several Indians besides Murti and Shankar were at the event. They included A. Padmanabhan, director (central Europe), Tata Consultancy Services Deutschland GmbH; Anil Kane, president, World Wind Energy Association; and James Abraham, vice-president, The Boston Consulting Group’s New Delhi office. Bangladeshi fashion designer Bibi Russell was also a speaker at one of the sessions.

The presence of the officials from Dow and Reliance at the same forum had triggered speculation that the companies might have held talks there. Today, Reliance officials refused to comment.

Although Reliance has never acknowledged being interested in picking a stake in Dow Chemical, recent reports have suggested that it had withdrawn from the race after some private equity firms, along with investors from West Asia, evinced interest in a bid as high as $50 billion.

Dow today said it took “swift action” after it learnt about the alleged misconduct on Tuesday.

Kreinberg said the accusations are false. “The behaviour of the company is very unusual, and the accusations have absolutely no substance and are highly damaging to my reputation after 30 years of employment,” he said. Reinhard could not be contacted.