Pramod Mittal: Missing from action

Calcutta, Dec. 21: Ispat chairman Pramod Mittal’s absence from the press conference in Mumbai where the JSW Steel-Ispat Industries deal was unveiled has fuelled speculation on his role in the new dispensation.

Vinod Mittal and his son Atulya had turned up at the event along with Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel.

The official line in Calcutta was that Pramod Mittal was stuck in London because the heavy snowfall there had crippled flights out of Heathrow airport.

However, the corporate cognoscenti couldn’t help wondering how the Ispat board could have taken such an important decision to cede management control to the Jindals without the chairman sitting in on the meeting held late on Monday night.

Jindal is picking up just over 41 per cent and will be chairman of the reconstituted board. Vinod Mittal will remain the vice-chairman of the company.

However, sources said this was likely to be an interim arrangement and Vinod Mittal could become a non-executive director soon.

According to the agreement, Mittal could remain a non-executive chairman as long as the Ispat founders hold at least a 15 per cent stake. JSW will have two members for every Mittal representative on the Ispat board.

It’s not clear what role Pramod Mittal will play when Sajjan Jindal becomes the chairman. Ispat Industries executive director (finance) Anil Sureka said he might continue to be a director but then he said Pramod spent most of his time overseas looking after international businesses.

Vinod’s son Atulya and daughter Natasha Mittal Saraf have joined Ispat, too.

Balasore Alloys and Gontermann-Peipers are the two other listed firms belonging to Pramod and Vinod. Pramod is the chairman of both the companies.

Pramod and Vinod teamed up when the Mittal brothers, all hailing from Calcutta, carved up the business in 1994 started by their father Mohan Lal Mittal.

Elder brother Lakshmi Niwas left the country and built his steel empire, which now spans 60 countries.

Pramod and Vinod remained in India and built up Ispat Industries. Later, they went on to acquire a few steel mills and mines in Bulgaria, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Bosnia.

While their relation remained cordial, they haven’t struck any official business deal among themselves.