Saroj Poddar-led Zuari Group, which gained control of Vijay Mallya’s Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers (MCF) earlier this year, has nominated Akshay Poddar, Kapil Mehan and Suresh Krishnan as the three new directors on the company’s board.

The 48th annual general meeting of the company, which was held on Tuesday for the first time after UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya stepped down as director in November last year, also voted for appointment of two independent directors — Arun Duggal and Narendra Mairpady.

MCF director SR Gupte, who chaired the annual shareholders’ meeting, announced that voting results will be declared in 48 hours. This was the first AGM of the company where Mallya was not present as chairman, ever since he took control of it in 1991.

Without Mallya at the helm, the company’s AGM ended in about half hour’s time. The entire proceedings, which included voting for about a dozen resolutions, got over quickly as no shareholder opposed any of the resolutions.
Zuari Fertilisers and Chemicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zuari Agro Chemicals, gained control over MCF following acquisition of 36.56% of the paid up share capital of the company to take its total shareholding to 53.03% in May this year. Consequently, MCF has become a subsidiary of Zuari Agro Chemicals.

Zuari Group emerged a successful winner in the keenly contested takeover battle for MCF along with Pune-based Deepak Fertilisers, which lost out. Subsequently, Deepak offloaded its stake in MCF. According to shareholding pattern available on BSE, both Zuari Group and UB Group are listed as co-promoters. The UB Group holds 21.98% stake in MCF. Both co-promoters together have 75% stake in MCF.

“We are missing the charisma of Mallya in the company. Without him as chairman, there is no charm in attending the AGM. He was responsible for growing the company to what it is today. He has rebuilt MCF and made it a profitable company,” a shareholder said.

When Mallya acquired MCF, its turnover was around Rs 200 crore per annum. For the year ended March 2015, MCF reported a turnover of Rs 2,579 crore and net profit of Rs 37 crore. MCF manufactures and sells urea, di-ammonium phosphate, ammonium bi-carbonate, complex fertilisers and plant nutrients. The company is the only fertiliser maker in Karnataka with marketing rights in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

At Tuesday’s AGM, shareholders also approved a dividend at the rate of Re 0.60 per equity share of Rs 10 each.