Saw Hemendra Kothari come on NDTV Profit today and confirm that he has sold the remaining 10% he held in DSPML to Bank of America….Some Years ago he had sold 40% to ML for US $ 500 Million…he refused to disclose at what price he sold this 10%,saying it’s an unlisted company….says he’s now 62 and wants to devote time to Philanthrophy(his family,he says,has been involved in it for years) and Environment and Wildlife Concerns…will remain as Non Executive Chairman of DSP Blackrock though…rubbished the notion that he is selling because he was apprehensive about clashing with the culture and way of operations of Bank Of America,who has taken over ML
Years ago his DSPML refused to buyback from us shares of Namtech Systems…We had invested a significant amount.DSPML had placed these shares with us at Rs @ 55 with a promise that this Nambiar Group Company ( Nambiar was the Chief Secretary of the Karnataka Govt and whose flagship was the listed Namtech Electronics) would come out with an IPO within a year of placement and we could sell in the Markets or else they would buy back the Shares at Rs 113 if the IPO did not materialise or if the Listed price was lower than Rs 113….Those were heady times and being DSPML we trusted them,only to be let down as they dishonoured their word….When approached by us,Hemendra Kothari and the International Head of ML chose to simply ignore and not respond and walk away from the buy back committment while Nambiar said that he had no role to play in this Buy back Committment even though we pointed out the MOU to him……It’s over Ten years now and Namtech Systems has gone kaput…no business and no IPO…Oh ! shares yet exist…Not sure of the company though !
That’s why we make icons of Narayan Murthy and Ratan Tata….whose word is their Bond and whose Measure is not measured just by the Money !