LTTS bags deal to set up offshore development centre for US firm Tennant
Tennant, known globally for clean tech, will work with LTTS engineers to design smarter and more energy-efficient cleaning equipment. The new Offshore Development Centre (ODC) will focus on embedding automation, internet of things (IoT), and digital features into Tennant's industrial cleaning products. The move also helps both companies expand in emerging markets, particularly across Asia-Pacific.
Financial details and tenure of the deal were not disclosed.LTTS, the engineering arm of L&T Group, recorded its highest-ever deal bookings in the January-March 2025 quarter. 'In our view, FY26 will be a better year than FY25. We also reaffirm our medium-term outlook of USD 2 billion revenue,' chief executive and managing director Amit Chadha had said in April.The announcement comes a day after leading Indian IT companies—Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Tech Mahindra also announced multi-year deals in both traditional Anglophone markets of the US and the UK and continental Europe.
This comes despite the recent circumspect global commentary over demand and slowing organic revenue growth.
'With this partnership, we're combining world-class engineering with sustainability,' said Alind Saxena, Executive Director at LTTS. 'Our goal is to create responsible and intelligent products that contribute to a greener future.'Tennant's Chief Marketing & Technology Officer Pat Schottler added, 'The ODC with LTTS will help us accelerate innovation and support our mission of making the world cleaner, safer, and healthier.'
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Mint
17 minutes ago
- Mint
Unravelling the Kapur family rift: Fault lines emerge from 2017
The recent passing of Sunjay Kapur, chairperson of Delhi-based Sona Comstar, has stirred not just grief but also deep rifts within the Kapur family. At the heart of the escalating dispute is the company's promoter entity Aureus Investment Pvt. Ltd and a gradual yet consequential shift in ownership and control of Sona Comstar, the country's eighth-largest auto component maker. The genesis of the current tensions appears to be a chain of events between 2017 and 2019. In that period, the family's matriarch and Sunjay's mother, Rani Kapur, left the board of the promoter firm Aureus and transferred her shareholding to a trust named RK Family Trust. Aureus holds nearly 28.02% promoter stake in Sona Comstar, currently worth around ₹8,000 crore, and represents the interests of the Kapur family on its board through one nominee director. Sona Comstar is listed on the BSE and NSE as Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd. There was a gradual transfer of ownership and power at Aureus in the two-year period mentioned above, following the wedding of Sunjay Kapur to Priya Sachdev in April 2017, according to Mint's review of publicly available filings of Aureus. It is unclear what caused the ownership and control transfer and whether it was part of a planned succession. Queries to Rani Kapur, Priya Kapur, and Sona Comstar to the effect went unanswered. In response to Mint's queries, an Aureus spokesperson said that the settlement of the shares into the trust was done of Rani Kapur's own volition in 2017, as part of a well thought out plan for the revival of the business as well as to ensure a smooth family succession. 'In 2017, when Mrs Rani Kapur settled the shares into the trust, Sona Comstar was not the Company you see today. It had a negative Ebitda and was laden with serious high debt. The turnaround from a large debt burden ridden company to what it is today was led by Sunjay, when he repositioned the company and also took in private equity investment. The overall structure has even been scrutinised by Sebi at the time of the Sona Comstar IPO on June 24th, 2021." The spokesperson further added: 'Since 2017, Sunjay has ensured that structures and processes are in place to ensure that Mrs Rani Kapur has been financially supported to live in a manner consistent with her needs and lifestyle. These structures continue to be supported by Sunjay's wife after his passing." How things unfolded In June 2015, Rani Kapur received a 42% stake in Aureus (then known as Sona Autocomp Holding Pvt. Ltd) following the demise of her husband Surinder Kapur, former Sona Comstar chairperson and Sunjay's father. In a letter to the Sona Comstar board last week, Rani claimed that a will by her late husband, which was executed on 30 June 2015, ensured that she was the sole beneficiary of his estate. Until 2016, the decision making at Aureus was being jointly led by Rani and Sunjay. During a board meeting on 28 June that year, the board of directors adopted a resolution authorising the two family members to sign official documents. The same day, Rani Kapur also formally requested for reappointment as a director of Aureus. The length of her tenure is not clear. Typically, a director on the board of Aureus has been given a tenure of three years. Being the largest shareholder herself, the appointment shouldn't have been a problem, although no further filing by the company showed the outcome of the shareholder vote. But in February 2017, the company modified the definition of promoter in its articles of association from Surinder Kapur to Rani Kapur and her successor and legal heirs, showing that the matriarch was still firmly in the driver's seat. However, just four months later, in June 2017, there was a change at the board of Aureus. According to the annual report for the financial year 2017-18 filed with the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), Rani Kapur ceased to be a director on the board of the promoter company on 30 June 2017. Priya Sachdev Kapur was appointed as a director the same day. In November that year, Priya was further elevated to managing director of Aureus. She went on to serve in the position till May 2023 when she ceased to be a director in the company. The RK Family Trust was created in October 2017 to house the shares of Aureus held by Rani, according to the Red Herring Prospectus of Sona Comstar filed in 2021. In 2019, the RK Family Trust told Sona Comstar, which was a privately held company at the time, that its sole beneficiary was Sunjay Kapur, according to a press release issued by Sona Comstar on Friday. Through consolidation of shareholding in later years, the RK Family Trust went on to hold more than 65% stake in Aureus, which remains the promoter entityof Sona Comstar. Meanwhile, Rani Kapur went from being the largest individual shareholder of Aureus to being a person with no locus standi. Priya's return sparks war Just a week after Sunjay Kapur's death in the UKon 12 June, Aureus held an extraordinary general meeting on 20 June, where Priya Kapur was appointed managing director for three years at a salary of ₹1 crore per month. The reason given was the creation of a casual vacancy due to Sunjay's demise. Subsequently, Aureus nominated Priya to the board of Sona Comstar, which was approved by shareholders during the AGM on 25 July with more than 99% votes in her favour. 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Mint
17 minutes ago
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Drug firm Aizant to soon get binding bids for controlling stake in $350-mn deal
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India.com
17 minutes ago
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‘Deals Working Out Very Well': Trump Talks Sweet About ‘Good Friend' India, Hints At Bitter 25% Tariff
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