One of India’s oldest manufacturing joint ventures that had the blessings of Mahatma Gandhi is finally getting unstuck. The Bajaj family has decided to buy out its partners, the Shah brothers Suketu and Rajesh, from the 84-year old steel venture Mukand Ltd, ending months of negotiations.
The Shah family will be cashing out of the business, transferring their residual 16.5% stake to their partners, via block deals in the stock market, as part of a major restructuring exercise that has been ongoing for months to revive the operations. At current market prices, the Bajaj family would have to shell out Rs 353 crore for the transaction.
The company has a Rs 2,142-crore maket capitalisation.
There will be no tender offer for the acquisition of shares since it is a transfer between promoters. The transaction is expected to take place as early as Monday.
Of the 74.35% equity classified as promoter holdings of the company, several Bajaj family holding companies, group entities, trusts and individuals — Bajaj Holdings, Bajaj Shevashram, Niraj, Madhur, Sekhar, and the generation next Rajiv and Sanjiv with their own successful businesses — control the lion’s share of 58%. Public shareholding stands at 25.65%, as per the June 2021 shareholding pattern. Over the years, the Shah family’s shareholding got diluted from 50% since they chose not to subscribe to the various rights issues.
“This is a decision that our family arrived at some time back. It has been a long association between both sides, said Rajesh Shah, co-chairman of Mukand. “This partnership has worked successfully for long but our next generation are unlikely to continue.”
Sources close to both families say the separation has been in the works for several months now. Mukand has been languishing for years and became the smallest Bajaj group company, hamstrung with high debt that went as high as Rs 3,100 crore in June last year and rising losses till December 2020, following bad business calls. As a first step, beginning this January, Jamnalal Sons Private Limited, a Bajaj Group company, bought out Mukand’s entire 1% stake in a joint venture arm company — Mukand Sumi Special Steel Ltd — that manufactures alloy products for `1,213 crore. Sumitomo of Japan holds 49% stake.