Nusli Wadia chalks out succession plan

It seems the grand patriarch of Bombay Dyeing Nusli Wadia,

is finally laying out the succession plan of the Wadia family. The group was once upon a time one of the few stellar and leading entrepreneurial houses in India. The older sibling Ness Wadia is ready to takeover the reigns of Bombay Burmah Trading Corp. He will be replaced as the Managing Director of Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co, by younger brother Jehangir or Jeh. The decisions were taken after board meetings of both companies. The move is seen as a probable precursor to a succession plan.

Ness Wadia is known to have been the hand behind the monetization of Bombay Dyeing’s mill land in central Mumbai. Angel Broking values the firm’s real estate assets at Rs 1,674 a share, but after factoring in debt and taxation on the assets, has set a target price of Rs 894. Ness Wadia initially joined Bombay Dyeing in 1993 as a management trainee and moved up the ranks until he was promoted as the joint managing director, a position he held since August 1, 2001.

Jeh is the man behind the turning around of the fortunes of Go Air. The group’s airline venture, Go Air had got off to a poor start, prompting Nusli Wadia to admit in 2009 that it wasn’t the right business to get into, citing excess market capacity. Jeh was also involved in sourcing new financial and strategic investments for the group. He was elected as the World Economic Forum as young global leader in 2008, is now in the process of selling shares of Go Airlines to the public for the first time.

Bombay Dyeing posted a net loss of Rs 60.56 crores on revenue of Rs 1,267.26 crores for the nine months ended December, 31, 2010. It struggles with mounting losses and has a debt of Rs 1,775 crores. On the other hand, Bombay Burmah reported a net profit of Rs 19.86 crores on revenue of Rs 230.71 crores for the same period.