HC receiver takes charge of Mardia assets

The Mumbai High Court receiver has taken possession of the assets of Ahmedabad-based Mardia Chemicals Ltd in a case filed by ICICI Bank as a debenture trustee.

ICICI Bank had filed the case in its capacity as the trustee to the debentures issued by Mardia Chemicals, after the company defaulted on payments.

The amount of debentures outstanding could not be ascertained. This is one of the several cases filed by ICICI Bank against Mardia Chemicals. The other cases involves defaults against loans given to the company.

The court receiver took possession of the company's assets yesterday pursuant to the high court's August 13, 2004 order, the company said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Mardia Chemicals of the Mardia group has total outstanding loans of about Rs 800 crore.

The interest accumulation on the loans and taken the total dues to over Rs 1,400 crore.

A total of 22 banks have lent to Mardia Chemicals. ICICI Bank's principal loans outstanding amount to about Rs 180 crore and UTI Bank has still to recover Rs 19.93 crore. IDBI Bank has also filed a case against Mardia Chemicals for recovery of its dues.