Shapoor to Spruce up the SP Stable As the new chairman of the enigmatic SP group, avid horse breeder and racing enthusiast Shapoor Mistry has to nurture a steeped-in-tradition business house that is keen to give free rein to new ambitions

 In the mid-80s, Pallonji Mistry gifted his eldest son Shapoor a stud farm in Pune. Since then Manjri Stud Farm, spread over some 110 acres on which several Derby-winning stallions have been bred, has been Shapoor's sanctuary away from the bustle of the Mumbai-headquartered $2.5 billion construction and real estate conglomerate. An avid breeder, Shapoor looks forward to racing his horses from the farm, although much of the annual crop is sold. 

    A month ago, Shapoor's 82-year-old father presented the mantle of chairman to Shapoor, setting the stage for the 47-yearold racing enthusiast to now prove his prowess at nurturing a close to 150-year-old business. True, Shapoor has been managing director at the Shapoorji Pallonji group — and joint MD along with younger brother Cyrus before he was selected to succeed Ratan Tata as chairman of Tata Sons. Now however, as chairman & managing director, Shapoor has the task of remoulding the primarily B2B diversified group into a more contemporary, globally oriented, consumer-facing and integrated enterprise that thrives on synergies within companies. 
    Dressed often in jeans and casual shirts, Shapoor isn't the archetypal promoter who wears his responsibility and power on pinstriped sleeves. Low profile to a fault, the newly crowned CMD is going about his task, say those who work with him, with the same gay abandon — and intense passion — that he rears his horses. 
New Focus 
Shapoor's appointment as CMD virtually coincided with the completion of a rebranding exercise. A leading-edge new logo with the slogan 'Built to Last' below it realigns all group companies — whose activities range from engineering and textiles to home appliances and water treatment plants — under the SP umbrella. A company spokesperson explains the new logo seeks to convey trust and dynamism, and the group's forward-forward looking nature even as it seeks to remind clients and consumers of a heritage of almost a centuryand-a-half. 
    Construction and real estate account for over 60% of the SP group's revenues. Shapoor is keen that consumer-facing businesses like residential real estate (including luxury as well as affordable housing), home cleaning, security systems and air and water purifiers find their place in the sun. "He wants the SP name to be more visible as consumer brand," avers a top official who works closely with the CMD on the condition of anonymity. 
    Identifying sunrise opportunities is a key priority for Shapoor Gokak Textiles, which was carved out of the erstwhile Forbes Gokak through a demerger process, is looking t tap opportunities generating power vi newable sources such as solar and wind. And another group 
company Forbes Technosys is setting up payment kiosks and payment transaction solutions. 
    Transformational exercises are not alien to Shapoor. He is credited with the makeover of the loss-making engineering, and shipping and logistics entity Forbes & Co, which the SP group acquired from Tatas in 2001. He also led the group's re-entry into real estate business — a business it had exited in the 70s — and made it a brand to reckon with amongst Mumbai's premium realty developers. 
Going Global 
Shapoor is also keen that the group attain a truly international profile. Currently overseas ventures are spread across the Far East, West Asia and Africa. Now the SP group plans to make acquisitions in other markets — developed and emerging — to get a footprint there. Shapoor, who has a penchant for spotting attractive deals, has identified a few global and domestic businesses for acquisition, officials close to the management said. 
    Recently the SP Group hired former PricewaterhouseCoopers diector Jai Mavani as executive director in charge of 
    mergers & acquisitions. Mavani sits on the apex decision-making body called the SP Group Centre, joining the ranks of other top executives such as Jimmy J Parakh, human resources head Vasant Sanzgiri, group head (strategy) Shankar Krishnan and financial controller Mahesh Tahilyani. 
Testing Times 
Analysts point out that the group has to intensify its efforts to inject fresh talent. Such attempts are being made. For instance, in February, Umesh Narain Khanna was brought into the group centre to work closely with the promoters and group companies to help them work together more closely. 
    To be sure, opportunities for synergy exist in plenty at the SP Group. Acting on the recommendations of Boston Consulting Group, businesses across 11 companies have been restructured into some 19 verticals. Verticalisation will enable companies in overlapping sectors to work more closely. For instance, at least three companies fit in the construction vertical: flagship SP Engineering and Construction, Afcons Infrastructure and SP Real Estate. 
    As Shapoor settles into his new role, comparisons will inevitably be drawn between his style of leadership and that of his younger brother Cyrus, who will take over as chairman of Tata Sons once Ratan Tata retires at the end of the year. "A challenge will be the constant comparison that the brothers would have to put with," says Kavil Ramachandran, Thomas Schmidheiny chair professor of family business and wealth management at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. 
    Indeed, the challenges for Shapoor's enigmatic conglomerate are many: how does it shake off its image of an old-economy enterprise and convince consumers — and perhaps in future more investors — that it is as good at, say, generating solar power as it is at building ports and power plants; or that it can earn its spurs for building affordable houses just as it has done for luxury apartments. "The SP group has to communicate to all its stakeholders more frequently than earlier," adds Ramachandran. 
    Also, to power the new businesses, the SP group will need to step out and aggressively hire talent from the best corporations and B-schools. The man who knows a thing or two about breeding winning horses has now got to lend that magic touch to the thoroughbreds in the SP stable.

Shapoor Mistry 
47 CMD, SP Group 
Joined Group In: 1988 (as director) Big Break: Led the group's re-entry into real estate in 1992 Inorganic Move: Masterminded takeover of Tata Group company Forbes Gokak in 2001 
New Business Initiatives: 
Consumer water treatment, home cleaning, security systems, renewable energy Other Notable Directorship: Appointed on board of Indian Hotels in 2003 Hobby Horse: Owns a stud farm in Pune where he breeds Derby-winning stallions