Pure Drinks Family Spat Gets Clammier

The woes of the promoters' of Pure Drinks Ltd are only growing. After the dispute over ownership of the company between the two brothers, Ajit Singh and Satwant Singh, and several legal feuds over the 'Campa' softdrink business etc, the siblings have now decided to squabble over the sale of immobile assets for repaying debt.

Though the promoter family has finally agreed to sell 8 acre of prime Mount Road plot to ITC for a hotel, another 17 acre is yet to be sold.

The 8 acre plot is being sold at the direction of the Supreme Court under the Reserve Bank's NPA scheme. ITC is paying around Rs 70 crore for the land.

 

According to sources close the family, the elder brother Ajit Singh and his aunt -- the wife of late Charanjeet Singh, Harjeet Kaur -- are in favour of putting the entire 25 acre on the block, since it will not only enable them to pay off large amounts of debt to various institutions but also help procure certain benefits from the creditors who have been waiting for long.

On the other hand, the younger brother Satwant is in favour of commercial development of real estate (of the remaining 17 acre) instead of a direct sale.

He told Business Standard that the group was planning to invest in real estate business. However, his claims are disputed by others close to the family.

According to them, Harjeet Kaur is the majority shareholder in the group with about 37 per cent stake. Satwant insists he is the largest shareholder instead.

He also claims that he is the adopted son of late Charanjeet Singh, making him the rightful chairman of the group. This matter itself is in court, making things more complicated.

Despite repeated attempts, Kaur and Ajit Singh were not available for comments. They are already contesting the case in courts as well as in the Company Law Board (CLB).

The Supreme Court had issued a notice stating that the 25 acre Mount Road, Chennai, land, owned by Pure Drink Calcutta Ltd, be either sold off entirely or in part under the NPA scheme of the reserve bank.

This has been done essentially to pay of the large amount of dues to several creditors. However, instead of deciding on selling off the entire land valued around Rs 250 crore, the company decided to sell only 8 acre for a consideration of Rs 70 crore.

Satwant says that is what everyone in the family agreed upon. A decision on the remaining land will be decided by the family.