mumbai the 104billion tata group is reviewing its diverse portfolio to streamline operations and allocate capital more efficiently chairman n chandrasekaran who is completing 100 days at the corner office this friday is unlocking value in businesses that are noncore and face growth headwindssources said the group has started a process to sell drug discovery services company advinus therapeutics drawing interests from private equity funds kedaara capital and true north as well as from strategic players gvk biosciences and lambdachandrasekaran is also capping capital exposure in tata ceramics tata business support services tata asset management tata autocomp systemsand tata chemicals fertilizer unit and is increasing investments in highgrowth and industry leading businesses while some assets like advinus therapeutics and fertilizer unit will be outright divested it could be a partial sale or a merger in others like tata autocomp and tata asset managementa tata group spokesperson declined to comment on the storythese divestitures of the small to midsized companies wouldnt reduce the groups 25billion debt burden much but signal the chairmans intent to deploy money in businesses with growth momentum and better return on equity the latest move to review the smaller sluggish businesses is noteworthy for a conglomerate with more than 100 operating companies the groups struggle to exit mobile telephony company tata teleservices and efforts to sell down parts of tata steel which account for a substantial debt pileup have been well chronicled in the recent pastadvinus therapeutics cofounded along with entrepreneurial scientist and former ranbaxy rd head rashmi barbhaiya a decade ago is being valued between rs 400 crore and rs 500 crore barbhaiya who quit as managing director of advinus one year ago retains his minority shareholding tatas decided to exit the business given its long gestation nature and scaling up challenges advinus relies on a collaborative model with global giants like merck jj and novartis in drug research discovery and developmentkeralabased tata ceramics which has seen an ownership change with titan taking control of the unit from tata power and hyderabadbased standalone bpo company tata business support services are among the smaller assets where the group is reconsidering its interest chandrasekaran has renewed plans to sell stake in tata asset management which has drawn interest from us vanguard and europes allianz and is mulling strategic options for tata autocomp systemschandrasekaran who is being assisted by a team of newly hired corporate finance professionals is pursuing a recast plan to strengthen the balance sheet of the group which is mainly dependent on cash flows of tata consultancy services tata sons the parent of indias largest conglomerate has seen dependence on tcs rise dramatically even as most of the bigger companies have been weighed down by debt and growth challenges