Tata Sons appeals court ruling risking seizure of its UK assets by DoCoMo
Indian conglomerate Tata's holding company has lodged an appeal against a London court ruling which could pave the way for the seizure of its UK assets by Japanese telecoms giant DoCoMo.
It comes after a ruling by the London Commercial Court in favour of DoCoMo regarding an unpaid $1.2bn (£0.9bn) arbitration award. While DoCoMo believes the ruling could allow it to grab the UK assets of Tata Steel and Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Sons disputes this due to its minority shareholding in the two companies.
"Tata Sons has always been committed to honour its contractual obligations within the framework of Indian law," it said today.
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"In recent weeks, the company has been disappointed with the lack of co-operation from DoCoMo in arriving at an amicable resolution by jointly engaging with the Indian government and the regulator on the issue."
"DoCoMo is unfortunately confusing Tata Sons' intent to pay with what is legally payable by the company; Tata Sons' intent is to pay but within the confines of the law."
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The ruling relates to DoCoMo's acquisition of a 26.5 percent stake in Tata Teleservices in 2009. However, it announced plans in 2014 to exit the venture.
DoCoMoc then activated an agreement which required Tata to find a buyer for its stake at 50 per cent of the original price or at fair market value. Tata failed to find a buyer and India's central bank blocked its offer to buy the stake.
The Japanese company has said it received the arbitration award due to Tata Sons' breach of their shareholders' agreement.