IBNS/Billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani has outlined the businesses each of his three children will oversee during Reliance Industries Ltd.’s annual shareholder meeting, declaring his company’s successors clearly for the first time.
“Reliance’s next-gen leaders are confidently taking over the reins across businesses,” Ambani, 65, said on Monday, referring to his son Akash, daughter Isha and youngest son, Anant.
“Akash and Isha have assumed leadership roles in Jio and Retail respectively. They have been passionately involved in our consumer businesses since inception. Anant has also joined our New Energy business with great zeal,” he said.
While Akash took over as the chairman of wireless operator Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. in June, the roles of his two other children were still not publicly announced.
On Monday, Ambani gave a clean steer that Isha will helm the group’s retail ventures and Anant will look after the front on renewable energy.
With this, it appears that Ambani, who is Asia’s second-richest person, is seeking to avoid a repeat of the succession battle he was plunged into.
His father and Reliance founder, Dhirubhai Ambani, died without a will in 2002, triggering an ugly power struggle between Mukesh and his younger brother, Anil, who were both involved in the business at that time.
This tussle eventually snowballed and three years after Dhirubhai’s death, their mother was forced to intervene and divide the businesses between the two brothers as part of a truce pact.
Ambani, who has a net worth of almost $93 billion and built Reliance into India’s largest company by market value, Monday reassured investors that he’ll continue to provide “hands-on leadership” at Reliance.
The three heirs are “part of a young team of leaders and professionals who are already doing amazing things at Reliance,” he said.
“Of course, all of them are being mentored on a daily basis by our senior leaders, including myself and the board of directors,” he added.
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