Vijay Mallya quits MCF board

In a sudden move, United Breweries (UB) group chairman Vijay Mallya Monday resigned from the board of Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (MCF).

In a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the company said Mallya had resigned as director with immediate effect, without assigning any reason.

The company's scrip with Rs.10 face value, which opened on the BSE at Rs.84, touched a high of Rs.97 during the intra-day trading after news about Mallya's resignation became public and closed at Rs.89.25, registering an increase of Rs.7.65 from previous (Friday) closing of Rs.81.60 per share.

Mallya has quit after failing to retain control of the company, while open offers for MCF's shares by Pune-based Deepak Fertilizers and Kolkata-based Adventz group concluded unsuccessfully Oct 20.

Zuari-UB group of Mallya, however, succeeded in acquiring 48,000 shares for a combined equity stake of 38.4 percent in the company.

Meanwhile, Deepak Fertilisers also increased its holding in MCF to 31.25 percent from 25.31 percent through its subsidiary SCM Soilfert Ltd.

As per an agreement between UB group and Adventz, Mallya was to remain chairman of MCF for the next five years irrespective of his stake in the company.