HC orders Indage to wind up

The high court here has ruled that troubled wine-maker Indage Vintners (formerly Champagne Indage) should wind up operations.

The order, of March 19, following separate petitions filed by lenders of Indage, including IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and the Government of Maharashtra-owned SICOM, a financial institution.

The stock price of Indage reacted sharply today, falling 6.9 per cent to close at Rs 47.80.

The company, in a filing to the stock exchanges, said it would appeal against the HC verdict.

An email sent to the company chairman S G Chowgule remain unanswered, while managing director Ranjit Chowgule could not be reached.

It may be recalled that Indage was pursuing a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) package to the tune of Rs 400 crore. This was being led by ICICI Bank, with allied lenders being IndusInd Bank, Allahabad Bank, UCO Bank, IDBI Bank and Bank of Rajasthan.

The CDR proposal, which came up in December 2009, was yet to be finalised. Indage said during the March 19 hearing in the HC that the company was looking to place the proposal with the support of CDR lenders, both secured and unsecured, in the next meeting. It also said it was ready and willing for a scheme of arrangement under sections 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, to restucture its outstanding liabilities.

Despite these contentions, the HC gave a wind-up order. “The company has taken steps to procure a certified copy of the said order,” it said today.

The company had been seeing a steady decline both in terms of stock price as well as goodwill and profile since its troubles came to the fore in the wake of the worldwide recession in 2008, which deeply affected the global wine industry.