Wednesday, February 8 2006 11:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: In a sudden breakthrough, the warring Ambani brothers tonight (Feb 7 2006) reached a settlement on transfer of companies among them after days of public acrimony.

Under the settlement, the control of four companies carved out of Reliance Industries has been passed on from elder brother Mukesh to younger sibling Anil as was envisaged in the agreement they had reached eight months ago to divide the Rs 1,00,000 crore Reliance empire.

"The ownership and management of companies were transferred to Anil's group in a cordial manner. Myself and L V Merchant have resigned from the boards," Sandeep Tandon, former chairman of the all the four companies, told sources.

The settlement is understood to have been arrived at following the intervention of Kokilaben, who went with both her sons Mukesh and Anil to Porbander (Gujarat) to the ashram of the Ambani family's religious guru Bhai Ramesh Ojah on February 4, the day when the spat between the two camps became public.

Kokilaben had intervened last year too to bring about a settlement between the two brothers in June, after a near nine-month-long battle between Mukesh and Anil on ownership of the Reliance empire.

As a result of the settlement, Anil along with his lieutenants have been inducted in the boards of the four companies - Reliance Energy Ventures, Reliance Capital Ventures, Reliance Communication Ventures and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd - created by demerging Reliance Industries' investment in power, telecom and energy businesses.

The battle between Mukesh and Anil's camp was reignited on Saturday last following news reports that RIL had signed a gas supply agreement with Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, when was still under the control of Mukesh's group.

A barrage of charges and counter charges were exchanged by both the groups after Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) termed the agreement as a 'flaggrant violation' of the June agreement and said there were major deviations. The two sides blamed each other for the delay in transfer of shares from the Mukesh group promoted companies in the four new entities to ADAG, which also questioned the other side on proprietary of their move to list these companies.

In the process, two sides kept accusing each other of 'criminal' misconduct and fraudulent practices till the 37 per cent shares of the Mukesh group promoted companies were transferred and the management and ownership were handed over to ADAG.

While Mukesh's group said that the settlement today was reached in a 'cordial' environment and put the onus of the listing of the new companies on ADAG, Anil's camp did not comment on the entire process.