In his lifetime, Manu Chhabria had known many business rivals including his younger brother, Kishore. The two would often call each other names in public.
A year after his death, another war has erupted in his family, which controls the $2 billion Jumbo Group. And this time the antagonist is none other than the eldest daughter of Manu and Vidya Chhabria, Bhavika Godhwani.
Thus, in recent weeks, the 30-something Dubai-based wife of Manoj Godhwani shot off a letter to SABMiller India asking it not to go ahead with its proposed beer joint venture with Jumbo's Indian flagship Shaw Wallace till the family dispute -- she has demanded a quarter of the empire -- is settled.
However, sources close to the Chhabria family told Business Standard that Shaw Wallace has called off the joint venture talks on account of differences over the valuation of its beer business and the slow pace of negotiations.
Earlier, Bhavika had asked the Bombay High Court to club her plea along with that of Vijay Mallya's McDowell's which had asked for an interim injunction against the restructuring of Shaw Wallace on the grounds that it was not in shareholders' best interests (McDowell's is a minority shareholder). But her plea was not admitted. And McDowell's is yet to get the injunction.
Why is Bhavika taking it out on her mother and sisters, Komal and Kiran? People close to her say that her angst is directed at Komal who has emerged as the public face of the Jumbo group after Manu Chhabria died last year.
That the low-profile Bhavika has been relegated to the sidelines in the family's affairs was visible in the latest issue of Jumbo, the group's in-house journal, which marked one year of her father's death. There are numerous photographs of the Chhabria family but few of Bhavika.
Also, while Bhavika is on the board of only one Jumbo company in India -- Hindustan Dorr-Oliver -- Komal represents the family in all the Indian ventures. Kiran, the youngest, is involved with the Jumbo group's electronics business in Dubai.
It is also worth noting that Manoj Godhwani, Bhavika's husband, was on the Dunlop India board but stepped down subsequently. (In fact, the Chhabria family has decided to keep its sons-in-law out of the family business.
Thus, Komal's husband, Rajiv Wazir, runs his own advertising agency.) Manoj has also worked as an employee of Jumbo in Dubai. "They now stay in a small one-bedroom apartment in Dubai," a friend of Bhavika's says.
People in the other camp aver that Komal is the best suited of the three to manage the group. Manu, they add, would often say that of his daughters, Bhavika was the least likely to join the business.
Bhavika has now found an ally in her uncle Kishore and has been in touch with him on the issue. Interestingly, this comes at a time when Komal is trying to settle all the disputes with her uncle. This process was set in motion by Manu before his death when he negotiated an out-of-court settlement of some of the many legal cases between the two brothers.
A few months ago, Komal told Business Standard that she wanted to take the process forward. With the Bhavika factor now assuming bigger proportions, that could be a remote hope.
