BackBombay HC admits winding-up petition against Elder Instruments, says report
The petition, filed by Prime Lifestyle, said that EIPL was unable to pay debts of over Rs2 crore which had accrued since 2010
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Mumbai: The Bombay high court has admitted a winding-up petition against Elder Instruments Pvt. Ltd (EIPL), a subsidiary of troubled pharmaceutical company Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Mumbai Mirror reported on Monday.
The petition, filed by equipment supplier company Prime Lifestyle, said that EIPL was unable to pay debts of over ₹ 2 crore which had accrued since 2010. Prime Lifestyle started doing business with EIPL in May 2009, the report said.
EIPL deals in pharmaceuticals, consumer products, medical equipment and process instrumentation, besides industrial automation.
According to a report by Press Trust of India on 11 October, the Bombay high court refused to grant extension to Elder Pharmaceuticals to repay money to the tune of ₹ 155 crore to various investors, while hearing the winding-up petitions filed against Elder Pharma.
Justice S.C. Gupte last week rejected an appeal filed by the company challenging an order passed by the Company Law Board (CLB) refusing to grant further time to repay the deposits, the report said.
Elder Pharmaceuticals, which has started talks with financiers to infuse additional investment into the company, sought further time to pay its dues.
Justice Gupte noted that while the company has been talking of this new deal for a long time, it will not help it pay the deposit holders because of an existing commitment to pay a clutch of debenture holders ₹ 263 crore first, the PTI report added.
The HC also admitted 24 winding-up petitions against the company, run by TV actor Anuj Saxena, who is the COO, and his brother Alok, who is the firm’s CEO, PTI reported.
In September, Mint had reported Elder Pharmaceuticals’ plans to sell its factories in Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, as well as some real estate, to raise money and repay creditors.
The drug maker is facing a “severe financial crunch", the company said in a statement to the stock exchanges on 5 September. Several executives have quit the firm and its audited financial results for the three months ended 30 June will be delayed, it said.
The firm posted a loss of ₹ 46 crore in the March quarter, compared with a loss of ₹ 74 crore in the year-ago period. It had a debt of ₹ 848 on crore on June 2014, the most recent data available, down from the ₹ 1,344 crore reported in June 2013, Bloomberg data shows. It is this debt that has prompted the fire sale.
The firm raised ₹ 2,004 crore by selling its branded domestic formulations business in India and Nepal to Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd in December 2013. It used this money to pare a part of its debt.
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