TVS family feud: Venu Srinivasan, son and wife along with daughter file caveats
The feuding family members of the TVS Group have filed a slew of caveats in Chennai courts, as an ownership dispute hangs over the Chennai-based business conglomerate. TVS Motor Co. chairman-emeritus Venu Srinivasan, son Sudarshan Venu, wife Mallika Srinivasan, and daughter Lakshmi Venu have filed a total of eight caveats in two Chennai courts, a Mint review of court records showed.
On 12 October, Venu Srinivasan filed the first, naming Lakshmi and Mallika Srinivasan in the City Civil Court. The same day, Mallika Srinivasan filed a caveat, naming Venu and Sudarshan. All four family members also filed caveats in the Commercial Court the same day. Lakshmi Venu also filed a caveat in the City Civil Court the next day, naming her father, while Sudarshan filed a case against his sister.
The caveats ensure that the court hears a party before passing any order over a petition moved by the rival party. In the TVS family dispute, the father and son are ranged on one side, and the mother and daughter on the other.
The caveats were filed three days after Mint reported on 9 October that Mallika and Lakshmi were seeking "a fair settlement" over the assets of the TVS Group, as patriarch Venu Srinivasan was reported to have given much of the ownership to son Sudarshan Venu.
“Is this (filing a caveat) a precursor to this ownership dispute going to court? One cannot say for sure,” said an executive who works with Mallika Srinivasan. “Every effort is being made to resolve this amicably. But both sides need to be open to settling,” said the executive, declining to elaborate.
Emails sent to Venu Srinivasan and Mallika Srinivasan seeking comment went unanswered.
“As stated earlier in their joint statement, Dr Lakshmi Venu and Mallika Srinivasan reiterate their desire for an amicable resolution through transparent discussions and dialogue,” a spokesperson for the two said.
Split and after
The wider TVS business was divided between Venu Srinivasan and his cousins in 2020. Four years later, Venu Srinivasan and his family members signed another family agreement, under which his son, Sudarshan, and daughter, Lakshmi, were given control of two public companies: automaker TVS Motor and die-casting company Sundaram-Clayton Ltd. Under this agreement, Venu Srinivasan and Sudarshan control TVS Holdings, the main holding company of TVS Motor Company. They also control the privately owned financial services and real estate business, according to a Mint review of the 2024 Memorandum of Understanding.
Srinivasan and Lakshmi control Sundaram-Clayton Ltd, the listed die-casting company. Venu Srinivasan wields control over TVS Motor and Sundaram-Clayton. Mallika and Lakshmi separately control Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE).
The 2024 family agreement is now facing a challenge—Mallika Srinivasan says it was only about managing the businesses, non-compete clauses and using the brand, and did not split ownership of the businesses among the children, the fourth generation of TV Sundaram Iyengar, the founder of the 115-year-old TVS industrial group.
“No economic settlement has taken place within the Venu Srinivasan family,” Mallika, chairperson and managing director of Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE), told Mint on 13 October, in her first on-record telephone interview on the dispute. “I do believe that the legitimate economic interests of both children must be recognized fairly and equitably,” she said.
The dispute comes at a time when Venu Srinivasan wields considerable influence over the Tata Group, the country’s largest conglomerate. His support for Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran for a third five-year term and his backing to make the Group company public are at the centre of a conflict with most of the Tata Trustees, including chairman Noel Tata.
Stake tangle
TVS family members own 59.09% of Sundaram-Clayton. VS Trust, with Venu Srinivasan as sole trustee, owns 46.83%, while a family branch owns 6.87% through TSF Investments Ltd. Srinivasan holds 4.38% personally, and Mallika and Lakshmi own 0.26% and 0.75%.
TVS Holdings owns 56% of TVS Motor. The family holds 74.45% of TVS Holdings: VS Trust owns 66.55%, Srinivasan Trust (with VS Trustee Private Ltd as trustee) owns 3.07%, and the family branch owns 3.74% through TSF Investments. Mallika and Lakshmi own 0.29% and 0.82%.
As the sole trustee of VS Trust, Srinivasan controls voting power in both companies. Lakshmi may run Sundaram-Clayton, but her direct shareholding is less than 1%.
TVS Holdings Ltd had a market cap of ₹23,217 crore at the end of Tuesday, while TVS Motor was valued at ₹1,93,778 crore and Sundaram-Clayton at ₹2,361 crore.