Zuari group gets representation on MCFL board

After acquiring a controlling stake in Vijay Mallya-led UB group-promoted fertiliser firm MCFL, the Zuari group has got representation on its board also.
In May, the Zuari group had acquired an additional 36.56 per cent stake in Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (MCFL) and become a majority shareholder in the firm with a 53.03 per cent stake.
In a regulatory filing today, MCFL said Akshay Poddar, Kapil Mehan and N Suresh Krishna have been appointed on the board of the company.
MCFL also said the proposed transactions with Zuari Agro Chemicals, Zuari Chemicals and Fertilisers and Paradeep Phosphate has also been approved.

The board meeting of MCFL was held earlier this week.
All the three were nominees of the Zuari group for the election at the AGM.

Zuari was competing with Deepak Fertilisers for taking control of MCFL since July 2013, but the latter withdrew from the race and has been selling shares of MCFL via the open market since December 2014.
The UB group, the original promoter of MCFL along with the Zuari group, has successfully staved off a takeover bid by rival Deepak Fertilisers and holds nearly 22 per cent.
Ritu Mallya, step-mother of Vijay Mallya, is also on the board of the company.

As per the shareholding pattern on BSE, both the Zuari group and the UB group are on the list of promoters. Together, they have 75 per cent stake in MCFL.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved continuation of production of urea from MCFL that uses naphtha as feedstock till availability of gas through pipelines or any other means.
MCFL had posted a net loss to Rs 211.56 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal compared with Rs 9.76 crore in the year-ago period.
MCFL has a plant near Mangalore port with an annual capacity to produce about four lakh tonnes of urea and about three lakh tonnes of phosphatic fertilisers. Zuari has a fertiliser plant in Goa.