Race hots up to acquire Indo-French Bio-Tech

While many other companies including Mahindra and Mahindra are also in the race for taking over the high-profile horticulture company which tried to corporatise agriculture and plantation business, a former state chief minister who is into the horticulture business is also in the race to acquire the company.

Federal Bank which has claimed the first charge on the company’s property to recover its sticky loan with Indo-French is trying to rope in corporate buyers to get back the money.

Sources said the main attraction is the 2000 acre plantation located at Nalwapada village of Dindori Taluka and other parts of Nashik. The company has got one of the largest grape vineyards and strawberry orchards in the country. “As Indo-French is facing severe liquidity crunch, the bidders want to get the company at a throwaway price. Bidders seem to be mainly interested in the real estate and not in the plant and machinery,” they said.

The operation of its 200 acre strawberry and 200 acre grape plantation at Nashik had been hit by a labour unrest. M&M has its car manufacturing plant at Igatpur in Nashik where Indo-French was trying to develop a resort project. Mahindra Hotels and Resorts seems to be interested in the 600 acre Nashik multitheme resort project of its subsidiary – Indo-Global Biotic Ambience Ltd.

Indo French has other assets including a 200 tonne pre-cooling and a 700 tonne cold storage units and a processing unit to process grapes, juice and raisins and strawberries into concentrates. The company had bought a pre-cooling and cold storage units and an imported refrigerated truck. The company subsidiary at Jabel Ali Free Trade Zone in UAE where it has been allotted a 50000 sq meter land to set up a fruit processing and marketing firm for the GCC countries is also to be sold out. Same is the case with its 5000 acre fruits farm in South Africa.

After the promoters of Indo-French Bio-Tech Enterprises Ltd had been banned from entering the capital market for the next three years by SEBI for violating SEBI norms regarding lock-in period of promoters shares, its creditors have been demanding repayment of loans taken to finance various projects. While Federal Bank has already filed a case against the company and claimed first charge on its properties, other creditors are also pressing for repayment of loans.

MMTC which has been a co-promoter of the company is also in the process of filing a winding up petition against the company. “MMTC wants to limit its liabilities as co-promoter by filing a winding up petition. Otherwise, the huge liabilities of the company will fall on the public sector unit,” sources said.

It has technical collaborations with Richter of France and Impiaanti Brevetti Servizi of Italy for technical knowhow and with Agrexco Agricultural Export company of Israel.