Mr Cyrus Mistry would be taking over the mantle of a group in which the promoters have largely redeemed their pledged shares over the past two and half years.
For instance, in the case of Tata Chemicals, as much as 68.5 per cent of promoter stake was pledged as on March 2009. However, as of the latest quarter (September 2011), this stands at a negligible less than 1 per cent. The script is similar in case of other major Tata group companies such as TCS, Tata Steel and Tata Motors.
The high promoter stake pledged in 2009 was, among other factors, due to high-profile overseas acquisitions many of the Tata Group companies were involved in the prior periods. Major among these was Tata Steel's acquisition of Corus, and Tata Motors' takeover of JLR.
After teething troubles and a tough run after the global financial meltdown in 2008 and 2009, some of these subsidiaries example JLR have picked steam, and started contributing positively to the parent's performance.