| The company has debts of around Rs 200 crore. State Bank of India, IDBI and Allahabad Bank were the prime lenders, shareholders were told at the annual general meeting here today. |
| J&N has approached the Asset Reconstruction Company of India (ARCIL) to restructure its corporate debts in June 2004. ARCIL is currently doing the valuation of the company's assets. |
| The Panvel plant of J&N is lying closed at present. It is located in one of the fastest developing areas in the country. The net worth of the company has been eroded by more than Rs 134 crore. |
| Meanwhile, A S Verma replaced the promoter S P Sinha as chairman of J&N at the 81st annual general meeting here today. |
| Verma said the company would sell a part of the Panvel property as and when it got the required clearances from the financial institutions and banks. "Everything depends on the financial institutions," he said. |
| Sinha resigned from the post of chairman and managing director of J&N in January 2004. Sinha is now the CEO of J&N. |
| Verma said there was around 5 acres of land in Panvel. |
| J&N finance head R S Agarwal said after the meeting that the Panvel property was expected to fetch a good price. |
| Incidentally, J&N incurred operating loss of Rs 101 crore in 2003-04. |
| Besides, Panvel, the company has two other plants at Naihati in West Bengal and Sikandrabad in UP. Commenting on the process in ARCIL, Agarwal said ARCIL was likely to complete the valuation of the company by the end of 2004. "It is looking into all the aspects including the revival of the company through induction of strategic partners," he said. |
| Agarwal claimed some Indian and several foreign paint companies had approached J&N for a strategic partnership but the arrangements fell through because of the high debt burden of the company. |
| "No buyer or partner wants to share the debt burden," Agarwal said. |
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