Cyrus Mistry Death: Cyrus Mistry’s tragic accident that resulted in his death comes close in heels with that of his father, Pallonji Mistry and the back-to-back losses have put the spotlight on the future of the 157-year-old multi-billion dollar Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Cyrus was the youngest scion of the SP Group,
Cyrus’ father Pallonji Mistry, who died on June 28, 2022, at the age of 93, is dubbed as ‘the Phantom of Bombay House’. According to the Bloomberg billionaires index, the SP Group has a net worth of about $30 billion in 2022.
The losses of both Cyrus and his father comes at a time when rating agencies had upgraded Shapoorji Pallonji and the group’s flagship, rating it an ‘A’, following its repayment of loans worth thousands of crores rupees. Pallonji Mistry had passed down the group’s reigns to his sons before his death.
The nearly $30-billion diversified group, which owns 18.6 per cent in the $130-billion Tata Group, was founded by the late senior Pallonji Mistry (great grandfather of Cyrus) in 1865 as Littlewood Pallonji & Co. Cyrus, 54, who died on the spot earlier in the day when his car lost control on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, was the youngest son of Pallonji Mistry and left behind his wife Rohiqua and two sons, Firoz and Zahan.
Cyrus since his appointment as the chairman of the Tata Group in December 2012 has not been into the operations of the family business having entrusted it to his elder brother Shapoor Mistry.
Since late 2019, the group underwent more management changes with Shapoor’s son Pallon, 26, being inducted on the board of the group holding company, while daughter Tanya handling the group’s corporate social responsibility activities.
The new-gen has been mandated to help the group companies with digitalisation and have better communication with its shareholders. Pallon is now part of the apex panel that takes long term, strategic and impactful decisions.
Since 2012, when the late Pallonji Mistry announced retirement, the group has been under the control of his eldest son and Cyrus’s elder brother Shapoor Pallonji Mistry.
The reorganisation was also due to the fact that in December 2012, Cyrus was appointed chairman of Tata Sons following which he withdrew completely from the family business “to ensure that there is no conflict of interest with the Tata group, including banning his family companies from entering into any business with any Tata entities unless through open competitive budding”.
The SP Group’s interest spans from engineering & construction under its flagship Afcons, real estate, consumer goods and solar power, from the last two it had exited recently as part of deleveraging. The group employs more than 50,000 people in more than 50 countries today.
(With PTI inputs)
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