The Hindu Business Line : Settlement at Seawind after marathon meeting

The marathon meeting that lasted through Friday night and ended only at 5.00 a.m. on Saturday ended one of the most intense battles in the country's corporate history that lasted a good seven months.

While there is absolutely no official word on what transpired at Seawind last night, it is learnt that there were quite a few who were present during the crucial hours of negotiations.

Seawind has been playing host to a number of these meetings at night, right through this week, but none lasted much beyond midnight.

It is learnt that on Friday night, other than the Ambani family members, there was a battery of legal experts representing both the sides, not to mention the K.V. Kamath-led team of peacemakers. Some of the names that one heard were that of Mr Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Mr Satish Seth and Mr Atul Dayal.

Mrs Kokilaben Ambani was present on and off at these meetings as it was more her initiative than anything else that speeded up the pace of negotiations. Hence, it was only natural that the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) board that met later in the day quoted her statement on the settlement.

The RIL board accepted Mr Anil Ambani's resignation as the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director and also as a Director of RIL. Thus, there were no grounds for any controversy unlike in the case of a similar resignation by Mr Ambani from the IPCL board. The difference, this time around, was that the negotiations were over, corporate pundits pointed out.

For the millions of investors in Reliance group companies, the news of the settlement - official confirmation of what almost everybody knew for the past few months - was as welcome as the monsoons that finally arrived today in the country's business capital.

But some market pundits cautioned the investors against going overboard, saying that one had to see the small print to know what was really in store for the punters in the coming days.

However, no small print was available and it is likely that there will not be any such for weeks or even months to come as the RIL decided to authorise the Corporate Governance and Stakeholders Interface Committee which it set up to examine all relevant issues including statutory and legal requirements and suggest a suitable scheme of reorganisation.

In other words, all talks of how much money will change hands between the brothers in lieu of the settlement remains in the realm of speculation. This is not the only issue on which there would be no clarity, as the Reliance group seems to have returned to its old ways of treading cautiously while making announcements.

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