"All is well," say Sanmar group promoters

Despite holding more than 50 per cent equity
13 November 2000

The past two years have seen hectic activity at the Chennai-based Rs 1,100 crore Sanmar group as it was involved in a series of mergers, de-mergers, divestitures and closing down of some business lines.

The final picture that emerged after the restructuring is that the group will operate in four segments: PVC/chlorochemicals (Chemplast Sanmar Ltd.), shipping (Sanmar Shipping Ltd), speciality chemicals, engineering (speciality and engineering are managed by a clutch of joint venture companies) software and insurance. The group is now negotiating with AMP, Australia, for a foray into life insurance.

The promoter brothers, group chairman N. Sankar, and vice chairman N. Kumar, have underscored that all is well between them and have categorically refuted a report to the contrary in a leading business magazine. The brothers have also announced that they will leave the day-to-day management of the group to professionals, and that the group will re-enter the IT sector.

Professionals come to the fore

Despite holding more than 50 per cent equity in all group companies, including in the groups' only listed company, Chemplast Sanmar, Mr Sankar and Mr Kumar have decided to let professionals manage the group companies.

As a consequence, five executive directors in the group have been made managing directors to oversee the group's different business lines. They are: Mr. P.S. Jayaraman at Chemplast Sanmar Ltd, Capt.B. Chakrapani at Sanmar Shipping Ltd, Mr. M.S. Sekhar at Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd, Mr. M.N. Radhakrishnan for Sanmar Engineering Corporation and Mr. B. Natraj at the Corporate Group.