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IDBI
may bid again for strategic sell-off of Hind Antibiotics
Julie
Singh
11 January 2003
 Mumbai:
Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) may bid
again for the strategic sell-off of Hindustan Antibiotics
Ltd (HAL), a public sector pharmaceutical company.
In a recent meeting
with IDBI and the ministry of chemicals and petrochemicals,
the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction
(BIFR) has directed the operating agency to rebid for
HAL. BIFR was forced to take the decision as it does not
find the offers under the previous bid attractive, sources
said.
 Following
the open bid in June 2002, two companies - the KP Sales
Group and Thombre Group - had placed bid for the PSU.
KP’s offer was rejected outright as the valuation
was found unacceptably low. Thombre’s Rs 177-crore
offer didn’t get through because HAL couldn’t
furnish the audited balance for the year 2001-02.
 The
government’s equity in this pharma PSU is estimated
at Rs 44 crore, as per the book value. Though HAL started
showing improvement with its cash losses in 1998-99, decreasing
by more than two-thirds, the government is keen to move
out of HAL, the sources add.
The government
had asked BIFR to proceed with a change of management
in HAL, the first public sector company in drugs and pharmaceuticals,
under the SIA Act early this year in view of the policy
to move out of all non-strategic sectors.
The new promoter
will have to settle the outstanding liabilities amounting
to around Rs 65 crore.
 Including
the value of fixed assets and the pharmaceutical and veterinary
brands in its kitty, HAL is valued at Rs 750 crore. HAL
has been incurring losses since 1993-94 was referred to
BIFR in January 1997 and BIFR formally declared it sick
on 31 March 1997. BIFR has appointed IDBI, Mumbai, as
the operating agency for a techno-economic viability and
report.
List
of reports on IDBI Bank
List
of reports on Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd
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of reports on pharmaceuticals
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