MP puts Enbee soya plant up for sale

After the sale of Progressive Extractions & Exports Ltd, another soya plant of the Enbee group (floated by the Nava Bharat newspaper group) has been put on the block by the Madhya Pradesh government at a reserve price of Rs 7.88 crore.

After receiving a lukewarm response to a tender floated by a government agency, the plant will be sold through competitive bidding now.

The plant, owned by Surya Agroils Ltd (a BSE-listed company), manufactures the 'Surya' brand of soya oil, soya nuggets, lecithin and other similar products. The sale process is expected to begin by December 18-19.

Some big firms in the soya market, including the Ruchi group, KS Oils and Sanwaria Agro, have made indirect inquiries. A government source said, "We want more players and big firms like the Bhaskar group and ITC may come forward to purchase the plant."

The Madhya Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (MPSIDC), which has taken over the plant, is now selling it since the Enbee group is a "wilful" defaulter on an Inter-Corporate Deposit (ICD) of Rs 84.32 crore, disbursed to it by the MPSIDC a few years ago. The amount includes Rs 29.75 crore principal and Rs 54.57 crore interest. The MPSDIC has taken over properties of the unit under Section 29 of the Securities and Financial Act, 1951.

The Bhaskar group had earlier taken over the Nav Bharat group-owned Progressive Extraction & Exports Ltd plant (located in Mandideep, Raisen), auctioned by the Madhya Pradesh Finance Corporation under similar conditions.

The Surya Agroils plant, situated in Salamatpur (Raisen district), has a capacity of 300 tonnes per day; one continuous refinery of 80 tonnes a day; a batch type refinery of 40 tonnes per day; a lecithin plant of three tonnes per day; palates of 7 tonnes per day; nuggets 3.5 tonnes per day; and de-oiled cake flour 25 metric tonnes per day. Initially only two companies expressed interest in the plant.

The MPSIDC has now extended dates of sale and put it on market through competitive bidding. Earlier a tender was floated last month. "Only two bidders participated in the tender and hence we have now decided to sell it through competitive bidding at a reserve price of Rs 7.88 crore. We are expecting that the plant will fetch us at least Rs 10 crore," a government source told Business Standard.

The MPSIDC is facing closure because most of the defaulters (22 in number) "in collusion with two senior officials of the corporation" obtained a huge amount (now Rs 96,794.71 lakh) in 1997 and 2000 and now wilfully denied repaying the amount.

The state government has filed a case for investigation at its agency "Economic Offense Wing." So far no stern action has been taken against the defaulters.