The Hindu : Business : CLB hearing The Chatterjee Group case

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Wednesday, Sep 28, 2005

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CLB hearing The Chatterjee Group case

Special Correspondent

`WBIDC had no right to dilute its shareholding in Haldia Petrochemicals'

NEW DELHI: Reiterating its claim of being the majority owner, The Chatterjee Group (TCG) on Tuesday asserted that the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) had no right to dilute its shareholding in Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. (HPL) by way of selling a 7.5 per cent equity stake to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

Hearing to continue

Arguing the case before the Company Law Board (CLB) here, the group's counsel pointed out that if the state corporation wanted to dilute its stake in the venture, it should have approached his clients, the majority owner. The hearing before the CLB on the Chatterjee group's petition alleging "oppression and mismanagement" by the West Bengal Government is to continue on Wednesday.

WBIDC, it may be recalled, had offered to offload its entire 43 per cent stake in HPL to The Chatterjee Group at Rs. 28.80 a share but the deal fell through as the group failed to arrange the required funds.

After waiting for a month, the corporation called off the entire stake sale and revised it to a dilution of 7.5 per cent for a consideration of Rs. 150 crore.

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