Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Oct 05, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Oct 05, 2002 |
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Industry & Economy
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Disinvestment Balmer Lawrie staff may seek fresh valuation Our Bureau
KOLKATA, Oct. 4 THE employees of Balmer Lawrie and Co Ltd have expressed strong reservations against the present disinvestment process initiated by the Union Government and also the companies which have expressed their interest to buy it. As an alternative they urged the Union Disinvestment Ministry to restructure the company and segregate its different businesses along its core and non-core activities and thereafter either sell it off or seek separate partners for each of them. This was stated by Mr T. Roychowdhury, President of Balmer Lawrie Employees Association, at a press conference organised by the Balmer Lawrie Group Assistants' Association. According to him, SBI Capital Markets Ltd, the merchant banker appointed for the disinvestment of Balmer Lawrie, has failed to project the true potential, prospects and value of the company. As a result, when the Government sought expressions of interest, genuine corporate houses did not respond. The four core businesses of Balmer Lawrie are industrial structure and developments, grease and lubricant, logistics management and project engineering consultancy. The non-core activities are travel and tour, container freight station, leather chemical and tea blending and packaging. It may be noted that Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had earlier suggested disinvestment of Balmer Lawrie after restructuring. The 1,600-strong workforce of Balmer Lawrie is not against the disinvestment process. "If the Government wants to go ahead and divest the stake we cannot stop it. Instead we would ask for a fresh valuation of the company by another merchant banker so that good corporate houses are attracted towards Balmer Lawrie,'' Mr Chakraborty said. Mr N.K. Pillai, President of Balmer Lawrie Officers Association, felt that the Union Government would get a better price if the different businesses of the company were sold separately. The 16 companies, which expressed interest for Balmer Lawrie are Aban Lloyd, ABG Heavy Industries, Adani group, BMW Industries, Orissa Cements, Patton Ltd, IVRC Ltd, Gujarat Glass, Srei International, Uttam Galvanising, Techno Craft, Sound Graft, Fedders Lloyd, Zim Lines, Maharashtra Seamless and CDC. In 2001-02, Balmer Lawrie registered a turnover of Rs 738.23 crore against Rs 769.56 crore in the previous financial year and net profit of Rs 8.01 crore against Rs 6.01 crore in 2000-01.
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