Chandrasekaran, P.B. Balaji to join Iveco board as Tata deal reaches final stage

New Delhi: Tata Sons' chairperson Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Jaguar Land Rover's chief executive P.B. Balaji, and Tata Motors' managing director Girish Wagh are among the top executives set to join Iveco’s board if Tata Motors’ acquisition of the Italian truckmaker clears its final hurdles.

The deal was approved by Iveco shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Friday, with attention now turning to Tata securing 80% acceptance of the tender offer by 26 October.

The appointments are conditional on the deal going through. While Chandrasekaran will join as Iveco’s chairperson, Balaji and Wagh will join as non-independent directors. Iveco had proposed a six-member board following the completion of the deal, with Olof Persson continuing as CEO and two independent directors also joining the board, showed Iveco's filings.

The new board members will serve until the end of Iveco’s annual general meeting in 2027. Chandrasekaran, Balaji and Wagh, along with CEO Olof Persson, have been proposed for terms running up to the 2027 AGM, while the two independent directors will serve for two years from the completion of the deal.

Tata Motors’ tender offer has so far received acceptances for 28.4% of Iveco’s shares, according to the latest update, with Tata raising its offer to €14.40 per share on 9 October, calling it its best and final offer.

Since the price increase, the subscription rate hasn't moved much, with 10 days remaining before the deal's deadline to reach the 80% threshold.

“Shareholders approved all the resolutions proposed by the board of directors,” Iveco said in a statement on Friday. The company also said the approval meant “the minimum acceptance level of the offer will be reduced from 95% to 80% of the common shares.”

The EGM approval was important for Tata Motors, as it removed one of the key hurdles for the transaction and lowered the acceptance threshold from 95% to 80%. The resolutions approved by shareholders include those related to the proposed board, post-offer restructuring and changes to Iveco’s voting structure. The appointments of the new board members will take effect after the settlement of the offer.

The focus now shifts to shareholder participation in the tender offer. Iveco’s largest shareholder Exor, which owns about 27.06% of the company’s common shares, has already tendered its stake.

The remaining large institutional shareholders are being closely watched as the offer heads towards its 26 October deadline. Hedge funds Davidson Kempner and Syquant Capital and activist investor Petrus Advisers together hold about 20.4% of Iveco’s common shares. None of the three had tendered their shares so far.

Petrus had opposed Tata Motors’ original €14.10 offer on 29 September, arguing that it undervalued Iveco and did not give shareholders an adequate share of the value expected from the combination. Tata subsequently raised the offer by about 2% to €14.40 per share on 9 October, citing delays in obtaining regulatory approvals. The company said the revised price would not be increased further.

The acquisition was first announced in July 2025, when Tata Motors agreed to acquire Iveco’s commercial vehicle business for about €3.8 billion. The transaction excluded Iveco’s defence business, which was subsequently sold to Italian defence company Leonardo for an enterprise value of €1.7 billion.

The combined business would have annual revenue of about €21 billion ( ₹2.28 trillion) and sales of more than 590,000 vehicles, according to the September 2026 offer documents from Tata Motors and Iveco.

Tata Motors’ revised €14.40 offer would value the common shares at about €3.91 billion if all 271.2 million shares covered by the offer are tendered. The offer is being made through TML CV Holdings B.V., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors.

For Tata Motors, the deal would expand its presence in Europe and other international markets and add Iveco’s established product portfolio and manufacturing footprint.

If Tata reaches the 80% acceptance threshold, it can move ahead with the post-offer restructuring approved by Iveco shareholders. The plans include a demerger and share sale, and, depending on the level of ownership achieved, steps towards delisting Iveco from Euronext Milan.

Ayaan Kartik is a Delhi-based journalist tracking the ever-growing world of automobiles and their components. With an experience of five years ranging from short-form news at Inshorts to longform journalism at Outlook Business magazine, he has dabbled into different storytelling formats. At Mint, he tries to regularly mix story styles, from longforms to crisp news stories. He has completed his graduation from Delhi University where he developed a liking for reading and writing about the world we live in today. Apart from automobiles, Ayaan likes to read up on geopolitics which has increasingly affected various sectors of the economy. Of all the promises journalism holds, he likes the fact that it allows a person to simply explain to readers about what is happening in the world. And what better sector than automobiles, which everyone since growing up has seen and felt connected to. Whether it is China's increasing grip on automobiles to growing affection for EVs in the country, Ayaan likes to connect his love for geopolitics and data to his stories as readers become more demanding on the types of stories they want.

Get Latest real-time updates

Catch all the Business News , Corporate news , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

✕

Wait for it…

Oops! Looks like you have exceeded the limit to bookmark the image. Remove some to bookmark this image.