NRI offers Mardias Rs 80 cr

Mumbai September 09, 2004
Poornima Mohandas

Promoter to enter into one time settlement with lenders.

Debt-ridden Mardia Chemicals has found a non-resident Indian buyer for its clutch of factories at Mardia Nagar, near Ahmedabad, Gujarat, who has offered to pay Rs 80 crore.

The promoter plans to use this amount to enter into a one-time settlement with a group of 22 lenders, to which the Mardia group owes over Rs 1,450 crore.

At a meeting of lenders held here on August 30, Rasiklal Mardia, the promoter of Mardia Chemicals, offered to bring in the NRI buyer.

Said a bank executive who was present at the meeting, “Mardia assured us that if all the lenders agree to settle for the compromise proposal, the money would be paid over a one to two-year period.”

The banks present at the meeting were ICICI Bank, which is the biggest lender, Bank of India, Union Bank of India, UTI Bank, IDBI Bank and HSBC. Mardia refused to comment on the matter.

A consensus is yet to emerge among the banks on whether to accept the proposal.

While ICICI Bank is of the opinion that the matter should be settled in court, some other banks gave an in principle nod to the proposal since they feared that the value of the factories would go down further if the settlement took longer.

Another issue to be sorted out is the sharing of Rs 80 crore between the term lenders and the working capital lenders.

“Mardia is open to any other buyer but he wants to make a settlement with all the banks and be freed of the personal guarantee committed by him,” said a lender.

Mardia has not revealed the identity of the NRI buyer, and will bring him into the picture only when the banks reach a consensus on settlement. The buyer is to take over only the assets of the company and not the liabilities.

The chemical plants in Mardia Nagar are said to be in a dilapidated condition because of poor maintenance. Bankers fear that even the property, over 100 acres, may not fetch much since the soil is saline and in a deserted area with no industrial units in vicinity.

02_NRI80crores