IDBI to help sell Hindustan Antibiotics stake

Praveen Chandran
17 June 2002

Mumbai: The central government, which has decided to sell its 100 per cent holdings in Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd (HAL), has appointed Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) as the nodal agency for the sale of HAL stake.

  HAL was earlier referred to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) as it was incurring losses during the past few years. IDBI will invite an expression of interest from potential bidders for the takeover of HAL.

 The sale of the company will be without any of the liabilities it owes to different banks. The governments decision to sell off its entire holdings in HAL is based on the repeated failures of the rehabilitation packages introduced by IDBI.

Currently HAL has a total interest liability (arrears) of more than Rs 90 crore to different banks apart from the other contingent liabilities, including loan amounts that have to be paid off immediately. The major lenders to the company include: State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Canara Bank.

Last year BIFR had asked HAL to dispose of its huge real estate of around 70 acres in Pune to reduce its financial burdens. But HALs efforts to sell the properties failed to take off due to the difference of opinions on price between the company management and the interested parties.