Cyrus Mistry, who once headed India's biggest business group and was from one of its most illustrious families, has died in a road accident near Mumbai at the age of 54. Bloomberg UK reports that the car in which Mr Mistry was travelling hit a divider on a bridge in Palghar on Sunday.
Mr Mistry and another passenger were killed, while two others who were injured in the crash were taken to hospital, assistant police inspector Balasaheb Yamgar said. The news is the latest blow for the Mistry family, whose patriarch Pallonji Mistry, Cyrus’s father, passed away in June aged 93.
Their Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which built luxury hotels, stadiums, palaces and factories across Asia, was founded in 1865. It constructed the tower wing of Mumbai's iconic Taj Mahal hotel. But the Mistry family most recently made headlines for clashing with India's largest multinational conglomerate the Tata Group.
Pallonji Mistry's net worth was reportedly close to $29 billion when he died. He was one of India's wealthiest individuals.
The majority of those riches, however, came from owning 18.5 per cent of shares in Mumbai-based Tata Sons, which is the main investment holding company for the Tata Group of companies. This made him the largest minority shareholder.
Cyrus Mistry became Tata Sons' chairman in 2012. He was ousted in 2016, which prompted a public battle in the courts and boardroom that lasted for years.
India's highest court ruled last year that Mr Mistry was toppled from his post legally. It also upheld Tata Sons’ rules on minority shareholder rights, which made it difficult to sell shares without the approval of the board. That meant the almost $30 billion stake was almost impossible to convert into cash.
Mr Mistry's older brother, Shapoor, is chairman of the SP Group. The pair established venture capital firm Mistry Ventures LLP together in 2018.
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