lnduslnd Bank on Thursday said it has acquired a 4.79% stake in debt-laden tea maker McLeod Russel India by invoking pledged shares for recovery of its dues. In a stock exchange filing, the bank said pursuant to invocation of pledge of shares, it acquired 50,00,000 equity shares of McLeod Russel, forming 4.79% of paid-up equity share capital of the company, a part of the financially-stressed Williamson Magor group.
“The equity shares of McLeod Russel India held by lchamati Investments were pledged with the bank for securing the outstanding dues of Mcleod Russel India (MRIL), the borrower company,” lnduslnd Bank said, adding it invoked pledged shares for recovery of its dues from MRIL, one of the world’s largest tea producers.
In a relief to the Khaitans-controlled Williamson Magor group, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) earlier this month gave its approval to withdrawing of the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against McLeod after its promoters had reached a settlement with Techno Electric & Engineering, one of its financial creditors.
Earlier, the New Delhi bench of the NCLT, vide its order dated August 6, admitted the insolvency application filed by Techno Electric under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The financial creditor had filed the insolvency application after McLeod had defaulted on repayments of term loans of Rs 100 crore and interest thereon.
In June, lnduslnd Bank had acquired 70,67,500 equity shares of McLeod, forming 6.77% of paid-up equity share capital, by invoking pledged shares also for recovery of its dues.
Besides IndusInd Bank, other financial creditors to the company are: Indian Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, UCO Bank, Punjab National Bank, Yes Bank, RBL Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, among others. Notably, the promoter shareholding in McLeod at the end of the first quarter this fiscal stood at 10.07%.
