Unitech puts on hold demerger of infra biz

Realty major Unitech today said it has put on hold its plans to demerge the infrastructure vertical indefinitely on account of sluggishness in economy.

In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the company said in a meeting of the Restructuring Committee held today it was decided to hold the demerger of infrastructure undertaking of Unitech into a wholly-owned subsidiary -- Unitech Infra.

The company also decided to withdraw the amalgamation of two wholly owned subsidiaries -- Aditya Properties and Unitech Holdings -- with itself, it added.

"Keeping in view the prevailing macroeconomic scenario, the company has decided to put its plans to expand the infrastructure business on hold and focus on its core business of development of residential and commercial real estate... Accordingly, the company has decided to withdraw the Scheme," Unitech said.

In April 2010, Unitech had announced demerger of its infrastructure operations, including the telecom business, into a new entity to unlock the value of none-core businesses. It had even planned to eventually list the new demerged entity -- Unitech Infra -- on stock exchanges.

Unitech had also said that it would hive off the shares and investments held in companies in the telecom sectors to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unitech Infra.

In the recent months, Unitech and Telenor, joint venture partner in telcom business, have been involved in a public spat over many issues, including management and funding of JV.

The realty firm had recently moved the Company Law Board (CLB) requesting it to appoint independent observer for the board meeting of its telecom JV 'Unitech Wireless' on December 8 and allowing the video recording of the event.

The CLB had disposed of Unitech's plea after the High Court appointed an observer for the board meeting.

Earlier, Unitech had dragged Telenor to CLB alleging mismanagement in operations of the JV. The partners also differed on the proposed Rs 8,250-crore rights issue.

Norway's Telenor holds 67.25% stake in Uninor, the telecom joint venture of Unitech, while the remaining is with Unitech. Telenor had paid over Rs 6,000 crore for the stake, valuing the company at close to Rs 10,000 crore.