Mallya defaulter crisis not to impact MCFL-Adventz pact

The wilful defaulter crisis haunting liquor baron Vijay Mallya may not impact the existing joint- control pact with Saroj Poddar-controlled Adventz Group for Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd.
"The situation remains unchanged as (status of) wilful defaulter is irrelevant as far as my agreement with Mr Mallya over Mangalore Chemicals is concerned....We continue to remain interested and that position remain unchanged," Poddar told reporters on the sidelines of the AGM of his group company Texmaco Rail.
But, if Mallya fails to clear the defaulter tag, he will have to look for people outside the UB group to get nominated in the board to continue to retain the management control of MCFL along with his ally Saroj Poddar.

Mallya along with directors of Kingfisher Airlines, Subhas Gupte, Anil Kumar Ganguly, Ayani Kurassi and Ravindranath Nedungadi, have been named as wilful defaulters by United Bank of India after the grounded airlines failed to pay up loans.
Poddar in May teamed up with Mallya to up the bid price for a 26 per cent stake in MCFL to thwart a move by Deepak Fertilisers and Chemicals, which has been trying to acquire a controlling stake in the company.
As per the agreement Mallya was supposed to continue as the chairman of MCFL.

"The only different that will happen is Mallya remaining chairman and the board positions. Beyond that I think there would be any change," Poddar said.

However, he said, "But the agreement obviously has to be modified as when we did the pact we never forsee this scenario."
"Even if Mr Mallya is not there he still has the right to appoint three directors and that doesn't change. So, three directors can come in as long as they are not UB employees as his employees like Subhas Gupte and Ravin (Nedungadi) have been named. There is also no family member (in the boards) as of now," Poddar said.
Reserve Bank of India's regulation states that wilfully defaulting directors should be removed from the board of the companies and that they shouldn't be inducted in the board of any company in future.

Poddar said Mallya had told him there had not been any wilful default.
"After this UBI development, we haven't met or discussed the (Mangalore Chemicals) issue......While he didn't mention anything about Mangalore Chemicals or about our pact, the fact that he kept me informed is the confirmation that he is very much on (the agreement)."
Poddar, owns 16.43 per cent through Zuari Agro Chemicals, along with Mallya, who has a promoter stake of 22.91 per cent followed it up with a counter offer at Rs 68.55 per share.