Daag achche hain

MUMBAI: The saga of the stake sale at Lowe is shaping up to be more like a long-running soap opera, rather than a focused 30-second commercial. As the fight over the payout from the stake sale at Lowe gets uglier, the agency’s international owners have stepped into the ring. In an exclusive telephonic interview with ET, Stephen Gatfield, worldwide CEO, Lowe, said, “It is clear that Prem (Mehta) has been the biggest beneficiary of the trust; and the trust, whose chairman is Prem, has used a very narrow definition to distribute the money from the sale proceeds.”

Two days ago, ET broke the story that key creatives like national creative director R Balakrishnan, who were consultants at Lowe, did not receive any payout from the sale proceeds. Prem Mehta, the chairman and MD of Lintas India, countered with an interview in which he said that consultants did not qualify for a payout as per the charter of the trust.

In an official statement, Mr Gatfield has elaborated: “The distribution of funds from the sale of equity at Lintas India was made using a constrained formula based on employment criteria service and seniority, and at the sole discretion of the Trust (IPG was not a participant in the Trust’s deliberation). It is the intention of Lowe Worldwide and IPG to embrace all the agency talent fully in the future, working with the Management and the Trust.”

He went on to say that Lowe intends to incentivise talent that has not been given its due, though that does not mean that it will be compensating people who did not receive a share of the sale proceeds. “We find ourselves in a very unusual position, as in a lot of cases, the people from whom the company is acquired from are not essentially the most important people in the company and in this case are close to retirement,” he added. “Prem Mehta is only part of the organisation and not the whole organisation itself,” was Mr Gatfield’s parting shot.

Meanwhile, a composed Balki said, “Prem Mehta is another employee of Lowe just as I am. If he has anything to say about me, I would like my organisation to respond to it.” He went on to assure those deserving people who have been left out of the pay-outs that they will be well looked after and taken care of. “

And only talent and contribution will be the criterion for rewards, and not just longevity, from here on,” Balki added. On being appraised of these developments, Mr Mehta declined to comment. Given all the dirty linen being washed in public, Lowe is living up to its famous ‘daag achche hain’ tagline, created for Surf.