The Hindu Business Line : Matex Net to e-auction Standard Motors' assets

Driving sale
Largest single location sale through e-auction that Matex Net has been mandated for.
The company's assets are spread over the 58-acre site with 50 business units and 1,000 pieces of machinery

Chennai , Sept. 19

Shriram Properties has appointed Matex Net to e-auction the plant and machinery at the Standard Motors factory premises. The plant and machinery has been valued at Rs 32 crore.

The e-auction will be held on September 27 and over 400 potential bidders have registered. The earnest money deposit for the entire lot is Rs 2 crore, Mr S. Jaganni Vasan, Managing Director, Matex Net, said. The upset price will be decided nearer the date of the auction, he said.

He said that this was the largest single location sale through e-auction that Matex Net has been mandated for.

The Standard Motors' assets are spread over the 58-acre site with 50 business units and 1,000 pieces of machinery, which have been segregated into lots.

Mr M. Murali, Managing Director, Shriram Properties Ltd, said that the company would be setting up a special economic zone for information technology and information technology-enabled services on the property.

It may be recalled that in 2005, Shriram Properties emerged as the highest bidder for the Standard Motors property at Perangulathur near Chennai. The Madras High Court confirmed the sale to Shriram Properties for a sale price of Rs 154.1 crore.

The Bangalore-based Shriram Properties, part of the Shriram Group, has a turnover of Rs 600 crore with over 4.0 million sq ft of developed space.

Matex Net is a B2B e-auction services and solutions provider dealing in the sale of surplus and non-moving inventory and equipment for companies. The company plans to expand and increase the number of offices in India to 43 by March 2007 from the current 12.

Matex Net set up an office in Singapore and has plans for offices in Colombo and Dubai.

Matex Net conducts 100 B2B auctions every month and aims at a transacted value of around Rs 2,500 crore by 2007.

The company also plans to tie up with a global fund management company for specialised services to stressed assets of banks.