Dalmia Bharat bids for Murli Industries, seeks 80% haircut
MUMBAI: Puneet Dalmia-controlled Dalmia Bharat group has submitted a binding offer to acquire Nagpur-based Murli Industries Ltd, which is currently facing bankruptcy proceedings in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), two people directly aware of the development told Mint on condition of anonymity.
“The interim resolution professional (IRP) has received only two external bids and Dalmia Bharat is one of them,” said one of the people cited above. “The second bid is from a Nagpur-based businessman, but the offer is not substantive.”
Mint had reported in August that Dalmia Bharat was among the suitors for Murli Industries.
“After full evaluation of the assets, only Dalmia Bharat has made a binding offer,” the second person cited above said. “Dalmia’s binding offer is lower than what it had offered earlier,” this person said, adding, “The total haircut sought by Dalmia is close to 80% of the outstanding loans.”
Murli Industries, promoted by the Maloo family, owes close to ₹1,800 crore to a group of lenders led by Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company (EARC), which owns 60% of the company’s debt. Bank of Baroda owns 25%, while the rest is owned by smaller lenders.
Murli Industries which began operations with a solvent extraction plant in the early 1990s went public in 1993. In 1997, it diversified into paper products.
The group entered the cement business in 2010. It has an integrated cement manufacturing facility with a capacity of 3 million tonnes per annum and a clinker unit with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum.
Emails sent to EARC and Deloitte in this regard remained unanswered till press time, while a spokesperson for Dalmia Bharat said, “These are speculations and we would not like to comment on it.”