S Ashok, a potential peacemaker at Tamilnad Mercantile bank dies

CHENNAI: Fifty-seven-year-old businessman S Ashok, who was emerging as a rare consolidating force in the Nadar-community dominated, ownership trouble-ridden Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, died on Saturday following a heart attack.

In 1994 Ashok became an outcast among the Nadars, who are fiercely possessive of the bank, when he sold his 18% equity in it to the Essar Group. This triggered the ongoing, 17-year-old ownership battle over the profitable bank.

During the period, the shares have shifted hands from the Essar group to billionaire entrepreneur C Sivasankaran and then to a slew of foreign investors. Also, the period has been marked by fissures within shareholders from the Nadar community.

In recent years, Ashok had emerged as a rallying point with whom the fighting Nadar factions were happy to deal with. Not only that--he could also strike a rapport with foreign investors, whom many other Nadars were wary of. Ashok told ET recently, “I would love to get back now and play a major role in the bank's development.”

Having bought 4% of the bank’s shares recently, he and his associates were believed to be holding a significant 15% in total. An associate of Ashok, who wished anonymity, said, “This is again going to change the history of the bank. Ashok was seen as some one who would bring discipline into the bank and prepare it for a IPO roadmap as directed by the RBI.”

Outside of his banking interest, Ashok looked after three key divisions — textiles, IT and export — of the Sivakasi-based Pioneer Asia Group, which his family owns.