SKIL Infrastructure notice to Reliance Infrastructure, RDS claims Rs 8,130 crore loss

Nikhil and Bhavesh Gandhi-promoted SKIL Infrastructure has issued notice to Reliance Defence Systems (RDS) and Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) for breach of purchase agreement dated March 4, 2015, entered into with RDS and RInfra and has claimed losses of `8,130 crore, according to a stock exchange filing made late on Monday night.

In the stock exchange notice, SKIL stated: “Failing which the company shall address the issue by way of arbitration mechanism to recover its dues.” The company did not give details of the dues. Repeated calls made to Nikhil Gandhi and SKIL officials remained unanswered till the time of going to press.

Also, while acknowledging the receipt of arbitration notice from RDS and RInfra towards alleged breach of terms and conditions of the purchase agreement, SKIL informed the exchanges that it denies any breach. “The company has denied any breach of the said terms and conditions of the purchase agreement and has decided to effectively defend itself during the process of arbitration”.

Earlier on Monday, RInfra, along with its subsidiary RDS, had issued an arbitration notice to the founder promoters of Pipavav Defence & Engineering (now Reliance Naval & Engineering), a company it bought in 2015, asserting claims for warranties aggregating to Rs 5,440.38 crore.

The arbitration notice named Nikhil Gandhi, Bhavesh Gandhi and their companies — SKIL Infrastructure, Grevek Investments and Finance and SKIL Shipyard Holdings — as founder promoters of Pipavav Defence & Engineering, according to a stock exchange filing by RInfra on Monday.

RInfra did not offer any comment on the notice sent to stock exchanges by SKIL till press time.

RInfra, through a subsidiary, had entered into an agreement with the promoters of Pipavav Defence on March 4, 2015 to acquire 13 crore shares, or a near 18% stake, for Rs 819 crore. Later, it is understood to have bought around 19% from small shareholders in the open offer, taking its stake to just over 36%. The debt on the books of the company at the end of March 2015 was Rs 6,893.07 crore.