Piramal eyeing debtladen firms across sectors

MUMBAI: Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) plans to bid for debt-laden companies across six to seven sectors including auto ancillary, cement and textiles that are currently undergoing insolvency proceedings, group chairman Ajay Piramal said.

Piramal attributed the company’s robust earnings in the December quarter to the strong growth in its financial services business.

On Tuesday, PEL posted a 21% increase in net profit to ₹490 crore in the third quarter, and a revenue growth of 22% to ₹2,858 crore, from a year ago.

“We are continuously looking at different companies in the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal)... We have put our bids. We are looking beyond one company. We will be bidding in six-seven sectors like auto ancillary, cement, steel, textiles, pharma and chemicals,” Piramal said in an interview.

The Piramal group, through its distressed asset investment platform with private equity fund Bain Capital Credit, had submitted bids for debt-ridden Bhushan Steel Ltd.

Piramal joined JSW Steel and its Japanese business partner JFE Steel Corp. to bid for Bhushan Steel, which has a total debt of around ₹42,355 crore on March 31, 2017.