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UWB
may dispute state govt diktat to Sicom on board rejig
Sanjay
Jog
Mumbai, Aug 14: The United Western Bank (UWB) is likely
to question the Maharashtra government’s directive to the
State Industrial and Investment Corporation of Maharashtra
(Sicom) to oppose four sitting directors by appointing new
nominees on its board. Sicom is holding 9.9 per cent stake
in the bank.
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MVRP mops
up Rs 186 cr through bond issue
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Our Corporate Bureau
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Mumbai, Aug 14: The Maharashtra
Vikrikar Rokhe Pradhikaran (MVRP), the special purpose
vehicle set up by the State Industrial and Investment
Corporation of Maharashtra (Sicom), has mopped up Rs 186
crore through its privately placed bond issue.
The bond issue of Rs 150 crore was floated on June 18
to clear the backlog of incentives against its receivables
of Deferred Sales Tax under the Package Scheme of Incentives.
The Sicom managing director AKD Jadhav told The
Financial Express that the issue was guaranteed
by the state government. “Despite adverse market conditions,
MVRP has collected the issue amount much before the original
closure date of August 10 and the issue stands oversubscribed.
The closure date has been further extended up to September
10 following request from some large investors.”According
to Mr Jadhav, Sicom is a lead arranger for the issue which
was also arranged by Centrum Finane, I-Sec and Allianz.
The special features of this bond issue included assured
budgetary support from the state government, choice of
tenure of bonds from 5 to 10 years with interest rates
ranging from 11.7 per cent to 12.5 per cent and MVRP to
be the state government’s agent for recovery of deferred
sales tax receivables from identified blue chips. |
Besides, the state government has also directed
Sicom to get modified, the tenure of appointment of UWB managing
director, ST Gadre, from two years to one year with effect
from November 1, 2000.
The UWB, which had inked an agreement with Sicom about five
months ago for joint financing and lines of credit, may take
up this issue at the level of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
and also at the board meeting slated for August 23. According
to the state government directive, the present directors AK
Sathe, KR Chandratre, GA Lele and Prabha Kulkarni should be
opposed by the Sicom at the bank’s annual general meeting
slated for August 23. The government has asked Sicom to support
the appointment of Dr PC Shejwalkar, Mr SI Jambunathan, Mr
PB Kulkarni and Mr Ramesh Venkat as new directors on the board
of directors of UWB.
Top sources told The Financial Express that
UWB believes that the government should not have sent instructions
in this regard to Sicom, which is a private company. The government
should have kept an arms’ length distance and not involved
directly in issuing directives to Sicom on the replacement
of four directors by new ones. The state government, in its
directive, has told Sicom “to take all necessary action to
ensure that these orders are implemented strictly and report
compliance with the government directive in due course”.
The equity holding of Sicom, which is a private sector company
since 1993, comprises 49 per cent by state government, two
per cent by employees, 40 per cent by Unit Trust of India
and the balance held by corporate and private sector companies.
Sicom holds 9.9 per cent stake in UWB while 14 to 15 per cent
stake is held by Makharias. The balance stake holders have
a holding of less than one per cent.
Sources said that the Sicom may seek a support of Makharias
to push the appointment of new directors replacing the old
ones.
When contacted, the Sicom spokesperson declined to comment
at this point of time. “We have no comments to offer,” he
said.
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