Mumbai: Untill early this week, not many outside the Indian fertiliser sector had heard of Sailesh C Mehta, 52, chairman and managing director of Pune-based Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals. Like the company, Mehta also kept a low profile. In fact, he is known among peers as "overcautious". So his move to take on UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya for control of Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizer (MCF) has taken everyone by surprise.
"We wanted to make some noise about this acquisition," says a group insider about the 24.46 per cent acquisition, worth Rs 180 crore, in MCF. "We had first made a friendly gesture to take over the company but the UB group was not interested."
The acquisition bid has taken UB Group by surprise, as it was planning to sell MCF to Saroj Poddar of Zuari Agro. Poddar already owns a 10 per cent stake in MCF. Of Mallya's 22 per cent stake, 11 per cent is pledged with banks and financial institutions. MCF became a target after UB Group began facing liquidity issues after the collapse of its Kingfisher Airlines.
This is when Mehta, who took over as chairman of Deepak from his father last October, saw an opportunity and decided to take the plunge. An offer was made to UB. Mehta's company has presence in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
06/07/13 Business Standard
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"We wanted to make some noise about this acquisition," says a group insider about the 24.46 per cent acquisition, worth Rs 180 crore, in MCF. "We had first made a friendly gesture to take over the company but the UB group was not interested."
The acquisition bid has taken UB Group by surprise, as it was planning to sell MCF to Saroj Poddar of Zuari Agro. Poddar already owns a 10 per cent stake in MCF. Of Mallya's 22 per cent stake, 11 per cent is pledged with banks and financial institutions. MCF became a target after UB Group began facing liquidity issues after the collapse of its Kingfisher Airlines.
This is when Mehta, who took over as chairman of Deepak from his father last October, saw an opportunity and decided to take the plunge. An offer was made to UB. Mehta's company has presence in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
06/07/13 Business Standard
