Pawan Kumar Ruia has stepped down from his post of the executive member on the board of Jessop & Co Ltd, as the company is looking at diluting its holding.
SC Saxena, managing director, said the company was looking at bringing down the promoters’ stake from 94% to 75%.
While promoters hold 94%, the government of India has a 4% stake in the company. Financial institutions and individuals hold the rest.
Saxena said after the 76 th annual general meeting of Jessop here on Tuesday that Ruia had to step down, as he was busy in overseas acquisitions and expansion of the Ruia group.
“Ruia is on a spree of global acquisitions to expand the group and so has stepped down from the board of executive directors.”
He, however, remains the chairman of the group and retains his control over the company, officials said.
Ruia group had acquired the ailing Jessop in 2003. According to officials, Ruia plans to invest Rs 300-400 crore for expansion of Jessop in the next couple of years.
Saxena said the expansion was required, as the company’s order book position was growing strong. “The company has already got orders worth around Rs 1.5 billion (Rs 150 crore) and we expect it to touch Rs 3 billion (Rs 300 crore) by the end of the fiscal.” “We have got Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) order from a subsidiary of Emirates Trading Agency (ETA), Dubai,” Saxena said.
He said the company was looking at ramping up of wagon production from 200 per month at present to 500 within the next year at an investment of around Rs 350 crore. The company is eyeing joint ventures with multinational companies to start manufacturing metro and passenger coaches.
