Mckinsey To Present Swc Growth Plan
Global consultancy major McKinsey is believed to make its presentation on Shaw Wallace's business and growth prospects at a board meeting to be convened by the company on February 21.
This is supposed to be the penultimate meeting of the SWC board before the closing of the current fiscal. The meeting, which was decided last week, was earlier supposed to be a routine one. The last meeting was called on December 16, 1996.
The Delhi meeting will take up the issue of the sale of the consumer products division (CPD), among various matters. Foreign consultants Coopers and Lybrand are yet to submit their report on the sale of Calcutta Chemicals. The progress on the sale of the consumer products division has been a slow process, sources said.
McKinsey has been entrusted by SWC to prepare a new strategy for various businesses and submit a blueprint on the company's growth areas. Apart from looking into the major focus areas of the company's business, the consultancy major will also look into the company's various financial problems and suggest measures to solve the management problems as well. Issues relating to management were a part of an additional help sought by SWC.
The hiving of the consumer division has been on the cards since a long time with Coopers and Lybrand to assess the price consideration reached earlier between SWC and the Henkel-Spic combine. The final board meeting of the company is likely to be called on February 28 before the closing of the financial year. SWC has concluded its second hearing on the issue of appointment of government directors on board yesterday. The Company Law Board is yet to decide on the induction of government nominees on the board.
The decision to induct government directors on the board follows a petition filed by the Department of Company Affairs at the CLB following financial irregularities and other affairs of the company which appeared to be "prejudicial to the interests of the company".
The DCA had so long been insisting upon induction of eight members on board under Section 408 of the Companies Act, 1956. During yesterday's deliberations, a CLB member wanted to find out the logic behind DCA's demand for inclusion of eight directors. "What is the magic behind eight directors?", was the member's reaction.
The DCA has now settled in for appointing three government nominees on board which would add up to a total of six directors. SWC had already appointed two government directors on board which included L C Gupta, former Sebi member, and C K Hazari, former joint managing director of Escorts in December. The FI nominee on board is P K Pandit.
The induction of three additional members onto the board of SWC would mean a majority of non-executive directors compared to three executive directors of Shaw Wallace. The existing directors on the SWC board are P J Rao, Ravi Jain and P L Narasimhan.