A feud between the Ambani brothers running India's Reliance group, the country's largest private conglomerate, is near to a settlement, sources close to the negotiations said on Wednesday. Representatives of the brothers have been in talks with a mediator during the day to thrash out a settlement over ownership and control of the group, a source close to Mukesh Ambani, the elder brother who heads flagship company Reliance Industries Ltd, told Reuters.
Another source close to Mukesh also said talks were underway.
"At this stage, it is premature to say if a solution has been reached. But I can say that a sensible settlement is only some hours away and not weeks and months," he said.
He said one thing which both the parties had agreed was not to split up Reliance Industries.
Speculation that a solution to the brothers' fight may be near boosted shares of several Reliance group companies in an otherwise weak Bombay stock market on Wednesday.
Another source, who has close dealings with Reliance Infocomm Ltd, told Reuters that younger brother Anil Ambani was likely to get management control of the telecoms arm as part of the deal.
New Delhi Television channel also reported that Anil was likely to take over telecoms arm Reliance Infocomm. The channel had no details of the deal but quoted sources as saying the top management of Reliance Infocomm had been briefed that there would be changes.
Mukesh Ambani is chairman of Reliance Industries, which holds a 45 percent stake in Reliance Infocomm. Anil Ambani is vice-chairman of Reliance Industries and heads Reliance Energy Ltd.
The dispute became public in November after months of media speculation about differences between the brothers following the death of their father, group founder Dhirubhai Ambani, in 2002.
Reliance Infocomm is currently headed by Mukesh, who has spearheaded a telecoms initiative offering mobile phone services based on code division multiple access technology (CDMA).
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