The board of the Basant Kumar Birla group flagship Century Textiles & Industries has announced that its 1.5 million tonne cement unit at Manikgarh in Maharashtra will be put up for sale.
The board of the Rs 2,202-crore company took the decision on Friday "as a measure of restructuring the company's business".
The company informed the shareholders through the stock exchanges that a committee had been constituted to finalise the transaction "at the best available price", which, industry sources said, could be anything around Rs 500 crore.
The transaction, which will include the power plant, will be finalised in consultation with I-Sec "in the best of interests of the company," the board said.
With the announcement, it appears that the company will retain the other two cement units_the 1.2 million tonnes unit at Raipur, Maharashtra, and the 2 million tonne plant at Maihar in Madhya Pradesh. The three plants contribute around 38 per cent to the company's turnover.
The proposal to sell off the Manikgarh unit will be placed before shareholders at the company's annual general meeting.
The board has also approved the financial results for 1999-2000 on Friday. The company staged a turnaround in 1999-2000 by registering a net profit of Rs 34.52 crore against the previous year's net loss of Rs 93 crore. Net sales grew by a 8.88 per cent to Rs 2109.68 crore from Rs 1937.54 crore. The company declared a six per cent dividend for the year.
It said the textiles division should witness a better year ahead with the improvement in global markets.
Industry sources said Blue Circle is believed to be at an
advanced stage of negotiations for the Manikgarh unit. It is also learnt that the foreign company might acquire other Birla companies_S K Birla's Mysore Cements and G P _C K Birla's Orient Cement_as well.
