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Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is passing through a severe cash crunch. The cash-strapped company has now defaulted in paying up for the loan fro...

Written by Dilip Cherian

April 15, 2002 12:00 AM IST

5 min read

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd is passing through a severe cash crunch. The cash-strapped company has now defaulted in paying up for the loan from UBI Kolkata for the last quarter. Neither the bank nor the company would like to see the account turned into a non-performing one. Certainly now Haldia8217;s persistent promoter Purnendu Chatterjee. With the situation being what it is, IOC is now back rather aggressively on the negotiating table. It was in January, that HPL had offered a strategic stake to the IOC in the form of equity. However after this the West Bengal government had preferred to offer management control to Purnendu, dashing IOC8217;s hopes temporarily. IOC chairman has now commented that they are once again open to participating in the equity of the company. However IOC taking advantage of the situation are now laying down harsher terms. All this came to pass because the TCG tycoon Purnendu Chatterjee8217;s earlier bid to recast HPL8217;s equity was shot down by the financial institutions. Thus the HPL equity structure went back to a status quo mode with Chatterjee8217;s group and Bengal government each owning a 43 per cent stake. IOC continues to maintain the upper hand and now that it is in an advantageous position. No funds will be infused they insist, unless all its conditions are honoured. Will the financial restructuring be completed before the equity structure is changed? Will IOC8217;s demands be met? We have to wait and see what happens, while the fate of HPL continues to hang in the balance. But Purnendu is a fighter and he still has his cherubic grin intact.

Will price ruin his day?

Cafeacute; Coffee Day had more than a headstart. Most people forget that they launched locally the concept of 8216;chic and stylish branded8217; coffee in the country way back in 1996. However, the chairman, Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company ABC, V.G. Siddharta8212;the mastermind behind Cafeacute; Coffee Day8212;seems to have missed the bus. The group took as long as five years to establish the first 18 cafes. But he aims at setting up 200 Cafeacute; Coffee Day parlours by March 2004 with a turnover target of Rs 24 crore. Essentially it is the conservative South Indian in Siddharta that has curbed his expansion plans. Add to this the lack of local experience to set up such ventures. Siddharta has been complacent and recognises that, despite being a pioneer he is now far behind in the mix of things. Part of the new brew he is concocting is a jazzier look, new menus, a new logo and of course a hike in the prices. But will it work? Experts question this part of the strategy because Siddharth8217;s success so far has come from keeping prices lower than competitors by 20 per cent. Cafeacute; Coffee Day8212;will they say, be the brand of the masses. However, Siddharta aims to bid for a more expensive cuppa.

Undercover strategy

It8217;s now the turn of Kolkata-based hosiery and knitwear tycoon P.R. Agarwala of Rupa 038; Co to jump on to the Film Awards bandwagon. The Annual Film Goers8217; Awards has found in Rupa a sponsor. This awards ceremony was on the brink of collapse due to lack of funds and Agarwala has struck a real good deal. Thanks to this, the awards received a huge facelift and now Rupa expects the event to grow more glamourous and bigger with each year. With the long list of award ceremonies in Bollywood growing every year it is of course, debatable how sponsors are coming forward to support them and also how much mileage it will now give to companies like Rupa. Agarwala however is pretty confident and optimistic. He actually wonders how such a plum event was going unnoticed so far. Agarwala feels that his Film Goers Awards is the perfect forum where everyone can freely air their opinion on the entertainment industry. Their decision to sponsor, he says was because they were looking for something truly qualitative and original to associate themselves with. Qualitative8212;we will have to wait and see. But original it certainly is. Whether Rupa succeeds to making this as sexy an event as lingerie, we will have to wait and watch.

Dilip Cherian, runs a public affairs firm Perfect Relations. He is an economy watcher and tycoon tracker . None of the people he writes about are his clients. Your insider tales are welcome at dilipcheriannow-india.net.in

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