Sona shareholders give overwhelming thumbs up to Sanjay Kaupur's wife as director amid family feud

Time of India

4 days ago

Rani Kapur
, mother of the late
Sanjay Kapur
, asked
Sona BLW Precision
last week to postpone its scheduled Annual General Meeting on July 25, alleging several irregularities in the way the Kapur family's interests were being represented in the business after her son's sudden demise last month.
Kapur was the Chairman of Sona and he passed away after an alleged bee attack while playing polo. But Sona did not heed Rani's request, the AGM went ahead as scheduled and among other decisions, the company's shareholders overwhelmingly supported the appointment of Sanjay's wife
Priya Sachdev Kapur
as a non-executive director. Priya's appointment is for five years.
It is interesting to see that amid all the whispers of a family feud and innuendos about Priya's nomination - which is believed to be one of the reasons behind Rani Kapur's request to postpone the AGM though the matriarch has not said this publicly - an overwhelming 99.4 per cent of the shareholders who were present and voting cast their votes in Priya's favour.
Also Read: Sunjay's mom challenges wife's posting as Sona Comstar director
In fact, of the four director-level appointments for which voting was conducted on the AGM day, only the reappointment of MD and CEO Vivek Vikram Singh as a director received slightly higher vote share, making it clear that at least as far as shareholders were concerned, the appointment of Priya was given a thumbs up.
At the AGM, the appointment of Jeffery Mark Overly as chairman was also approved; Overly succeeded Sanjay.
Sona was promoted by Rani's husband, the late Surinder Kapur. As of March 31 this year, however, the promoter shareholding of 28.02 per cent in Sona was held by Aureus Investment Private Limited, a company in which Priya is a director while Rani may not hold any stake at all in Aureus.
As per Sona's annual report for 2024-25, Rani Kapur held just 72 shares in it as on March 31, 2005. And in a regulatory filing, Sona has said that in May 2019, it received a declaration of significant beneficial ownership 'identifying Shri Sunjay Kapur as the sole beneficial owner of RK Family Trust, a significant shareholder of AIPL (Aureus). As per company records, Mrs. Rani Kapur has not been a shareholder of the company since at least 2019'.
Meanwhile, the annual report also sheds some more light on the process of appointment of Priya as a non-executive director. First of all, her appointment is dated June 23 and is, thus, not a recent development.
Also Read: Sona Comstar rejects Rani Kapur's call to defer AGM, cites compliance, governance norms
Second, her appointment was done after the recommendation of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the board of directors and upon receipt of her nomination from one of the members in writing.
Third, the appointment was subject to approval by the shareholders, which is now in place. Fourth, Priya is showcased as a highly talented individual with a diverse set of skills and vast business experience.
A double masters in Mathematics and Business Management, Priya is a former investment banker and 'luxury retail pioneer'. She began her professional life with Credit Suisse First Boston in London and as per the Sona annual report, Priya has led ventures in automotive retail, insurance and high fashion.
Among the board level skills listed against her name are: Strategic planning, thinking and management; global exposure; accounting and legal; and regulatory compliance. Subsequent to her appointment on the board, Priya has also been made the chairperson of Sona's CSR committee.
The feud:
Rani Kapur has raised questions about the ownership structure of Aureus, the company through which the Kapur family owns 28.02 per cent stake in Sona BLW Precision. Reports have suggested that the matriarch has alleged she was made to sign several documents without knowing their content and that she was suspicious of the cause of death of Sanjay.
Though nothing has been said about any opposition to Priya's appointment as a director in Sona after Sanjay's demise, the very fact that Aureus' shareholding is being questioned automatically brings the spotlight on to the late Chairman's wife and her role at Sona. Vaibhav Gaggar, the lawyer representing Rani Kapur, meanwhile sought more time to respond to questions over the entire dispute.