Ambani brothers' bonding may boost market worth

When the Ambani family came together at their ancestral place in Chorwad town of Gujarat's Junagarh district for DhirubhaiAmbani's 80th birth anniversary, the Indian stock markets heaved a sigh ofrelief.

Troubled by increasing competition,dwindling stock price and lack of the legendary Ambani clout, the world'srichest warring siblings - Mukesh and Anil - have been seeking a secretsettlement to send a strong signal to pump up the markets.

Looking at the deals on the cards,it could well be a shot in the arm for the billionaire brothers bogged down byregulators, Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) and even investigativeagencies.

Headlines Today senior editor Sandeep Bamzai said,"Troubled by increasing competition, dwindling stock price and lack of thelegendary Ambani clout in the corridors of power, the brothers are seeking asecret settlement to send a strong signal to pump up the markets."

The architect of this bridge wasonce again the Ambani matriarch - Kokilaben Ambani - who knew better that stockmarkets prefer peace over war within business families.

And as in June 2005 and May 2010,the mother told her sons to collaborate. In November 2010 Anil took the firststep dropping his own name from Reliance ADAG and calling it Reliance Group.

Now bigger deals seem to be instore. First off the blocks would be a deal for RIL to lease R-Com's telecomtower infrastructure to launch broadband and wireless internet services. Therevenue from the deal would help Anil reduce his huge debt of Rs 33,000 crore.Collaboration in the insurance business was also on the cards.

Headlines Today has learnt that ICICI Bank'schairman emeritus and long time confidant of the family - K.V. Kamath - and CEOChanda Kochhar were playing mediators between the brothers.

The Ambani brothers' combinedworth stands at $28.5 billion with $22.6 billion to Mukesh and $5.9 billion toAnil. In 2008, at the height of their business feud, the net worth total was$85 billion.

However, once reunited, Guruand Beta - as Mukesh and Anil call each other - might be able to work up theAmbani market magic once again.