Hindustan Unilever non-executive Chairman Harish Manwani is one of the contenders for the top job at Tata Sons, following the ouster of its chairman Cyrus Mistry, according to a report by British channel Sky News.
Manwani (62), former COO of Unilever, is likely to succeed Mistry to become chairman of Tata Sons, the news channel reported, quoting sources.
In 2015, PE firm Blackstone had named Manwani as a global executive advisor to the firm.
BusinessLine could not independently confirm the report. A late night e-mail sent to HUL did not elicit a reply till the time of filing this story.
Mistry was ousted as the chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the more than $100-billion Tata group, following a board room battle. Following which Ratan Tata took over as the interim chairman of the conglomerate.
Following the ouster of Mistry on October 24, Tata group has constituted a body - comprising industry veterans such as Ratan Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra, Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya - to scout for a new chairman within the next four months.
Even after his removal, Mistry continues to head the group's several listed firms such as Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals. Several Tata group firms had called for EGMs, with Tata Consultancy Services on December 13, Indian Hotels Co Ltd on December 20, Tata Motors on December 22 and Tata Chemicals on December 23 to seek Mistry’s ouster.