Kesoram Industries likely to divide into two

Basant Kumar Birla''s Kesoram Industries may be divide into two to accommodate his daughter Manjushree Khaitan and his grandson Kumar Mangalam Birla, in the succession plan for the company. The senior Birla, 87, said a part of the Rs 2,500-crore Kesoram will go to Khaitan but did not specify which part. The Kesoram board will decide the issue. Birla, however, clarified that the cement business will go to Kumar Mangalam, who is also the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group. Observers of the Birla group said all the important businesses of the company, namely cement and tyre, will probably go to Kumar Mangalam. Kumar Mangalam is the country''s largest cement maker with two companies Grasim and UltraTech. Khaitan will get either the spun pipes (sale of nearly Rs 120 crore) or the chemicals and rayon business (nearly 153 crore). However, the split may not take place in a hurry.The split, once it takes place, will add a new twist to BK Birla''s succession plan. In his will, made in July 2004, Birla said a company of his Rs 8,000-crore group would be inherited by the person who was in charge of it and overseeing its day-to-day affairs. In June this year, Birla had said all major companies in his portfolio will go to his grandson, Kumar Mangalam. Last year, Birla had declared that Kumar Mangalam will inherit Century Textiles & Industries, after gaining control over Pilani Investments from other Birla clans, namely SK Birla and CK Birla. Half of Kesoram''s revenues comes from cement, sales of which stood at Rs 1,156 crore in the last financial year out of the company''s total turnover of Rs 2,500 crore.