An Incomplete Life: Gautam’s separation from his wife erases $180 mn at Raymond
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: This is also a family matter. When a family collapses, the business it runs may also follow.
India’s business legend Vijaypat Singhania, once synonymous with his company Raymond’s tagline “The Complete Man”, penned his 2021 autobiography “An Incomplete Life”, after his very public spat with billionaire son Gautam Singhania.
The Singhanias, minus Gautam, celebrated Deepawali together, showing the cracks in the family.
Now, after Gautam’s recent announcement that he was separating from his wife, the fortunes seem to be turning the other way. Nawaz, his wife of 32 years, has demanded 75 percent of her estranged husband’s fortunes as the cost of separation. She also accused her husband on various other counts.
This had an immediate effect on Raymond’s standing in the stock market.
Raymond Ltd., among the world’s biggest producers of suit fabric, fell for the seventh day in Mumbai as the acrimonious separation between Chairman Gautam Singhania and his wife Nawaz sparked uncertainty among investors, the media reported on Wednesday.
The stock tumbled 12 percent since November 13 when Gautam announced separation from Nawaz Singhania, his wife of 32 years and a Raymond board member, erasing more than USD 180 million (Rs. 1,500 crore) in market value. The shares fell as much as 4.4 percent on Wednesday, set for the biggest drop since October 25.
According to reports, Nawaz Singhania has sought 75 percent of Gautam’s USD 1.4 billion fortune as part of a settlement.
“Uncertainty around the separation is weighing on the stock. Nobody knows what kind of impact it will have on the company,” Varun Singh, an analyst at ICICI Securities Ltd, was quoted as saying. “Since the wife is a board member, this has become a corporate governance issue.”
