Maytas Infra wins Rs790 cr contract from IL&FS arm
Maytas Infra wins Rs790 cr contract from IL&FS arm
Hyderabad: Troubled Maytas Infra Ltd, after going nearly a year without winning any new deal while losing some, has been awarded a Rs790 crore road building contract by its new promoter Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS).
The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd (ITNL) for doubling the two-lane Pune-Sholapur national highway in Maharashtra is also its biggest ever in the EPC segment.
“The contract has come as a major breakthrough when we are unable to bid for any contracts in the last several months owing to the collateral damage we suffered on account of the events at Satyam," Chander Sheel Bansal, president of Maytas Infra, told Mint.
The Hyderabad-based construction firm, originally promoted by B. Ramalinga Raju, the jailed founder of software outsourcer Satyam Computer Services Ltd, ran into trouble after Raju confessed to the country’s largest accounting fraud of Rs7,136 crore on 7 January.
Maytas lost several projects awarded to it as it couldn’t raise the money required in time, including the Rs12,132 crore Hyderabad Metro rail project. On 31 August, the Company Law Board ruled that IL&FS, which had worked closely with Maytas as a partner in projects, stakeholder and financial adviser, would be its new partner.
In a statement on Thursday, Maytas Infra said the IL&FS arm had invited it along with other companies to submit quotes for widening the highway. ITNL, in turn, had been awarded the project by the National Highways Authority of India.
Widening the 104.6km highway would take 20 months.
IL&FS, which acquired 37.1% in Maytas Infra by acquiring the pledged shares of the Raju family members by spending Rs200 crore, has to make an open offer to shareholders to acquire another 20% in the firm, investing about another Rs150 crore. It also has to invest Rs55 crore in Maytas.
After gaining control of Maytas, Ravi Parthasarathy, chairman of IL&FS, had said he would need at least two-three quarters to stabilize and revive its operations before considering any fresh capital infusion.
Maytas Infra had swung to a loss of Rs489.78 crore in fiscal 2009 from a profit of Rs99.64 crore in the previous year, while revenue fell to Rs1,392.46 crore from Rs1,670.15 crore.
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