NEW DELHI, July 15: The stand-off between the Singhanias and Italian two-wheeler giant Piaggio over LML Ltd is set for a long drawn-out legal battle with the Italian manufacturer terming the Indian promoters' interpretation of the joint venture agreement "erroneous". Piaggio will oppose the move of Singhanias to buy out its 23.6 per cent stake in their joint venture LML, resident manager of Piaggio India Mario Emprin said here today. Piaggio will oppose the contention of Singhanias that as per the joint venture agreement, the Indian promoter enjoyed the right to buy out Piaggio's stake following the death of its owner Giovanni Agnelli last December."Piaggio will oppose such interpretation of the joint venture agreement in all the necessary forums in order to safeguard its position, as India continues to represent a strategically important country in the ambit of Piaggio's international presence," Emprin said in a statement here.Meanwhile, the promoters of LML Ltd, the Singhanias, have filed a suitagainst Piaggio seeking claim on the equity stake held by the Italian partner and prevent it from selling its stake in the company to an outsider.The case filed at the court of senior civil judge here is to debar Piaggio from selling or transferring its equity stake in the company following the death of its owner Giovanni Agnelli in December last year, promoter director Sanjiv Shriya said in an interview.As per the joint venture agreement between the two partners, the equity shares of the deceased person can be sold to Indian promoters only and not to any third party. The promoters who entered into the JV, Lalit Kumar Singhania, Deepak Kumar Singhania and Sanjiv Shriya through their holding company have appealed to the court for issuing directives to the Piaggio to sell the equity shares of Agnelli to them.The relationship between the two partners took a new turn last year when a disappointed Piaggio had to sign up with Greaves auto for its three-wheeler project. LML had turned down the Piaggiointerest to enter the three-wheeler project saying it was not a focus area of the company.He, however, said as per the JV, Singhanias enjoyed the right to enter into an agreement with any auto company for transfer of technical know-how. Shriya parried a question when asked whether the company was indeed entering into a new agreement for technology transfer with another company."There was no binding under the agreement," he remarked. Company sources said the relation between Singhanias and Piaggio had been steadily worsening. Company managing director Deepak Singhania and promoters L K Singhania and Shriya through their associate subsidiary companies, about 21 of them, have started efforts efforts to buy Piaggio's 23 per cent shares.
