Shaw Wallace Board To Kick Off Time-Bound Disinvestment
The board of directors of Shaw Wallace has decided to set in motion "a transparent process of disinvestment in a time-bound fashion" apart from taking stock of an orderly liquidation of its debts.
At a day-long meeting held in New Delhi yesterday, the board of directors of SWC examined the alternatives relating to restructuring of the company's businesses to solve the severe liquidity problems currently besetting the company.
According to an official statement, "the board is conscious of its liabilities towards all its creditors and steps will be taken to discharge its responsibilities in the process of restructuring of the company".
The meeting, which was decided last week, was earlier supposed to be a routine meeting of the company. The last one was called on December 16, 1996. SWC directors took a detailed stock of the company's core businesses, and declared these businesses to be in "healthy shape, having good future prospects too", the official release added.
Regarding disposal of its non-core businesses as a major part of the restructuring plan, the board of directors assured that the interests of the employees would be safeguarded while hiving of its non-core divisions. It may be noted that the company has been trying to hive off Calcutta Chemicals, the consumer products division since a long time. The price consideration reached earlier between SWC and Henkel -Spic combine stands at Rs 42 crore.
The beleaguered major has also decided to undertake a strong accounting and auditing system within the company. It may be noted that the company's audited account for the year ended June 30, 1996 are expected to be finalised shortly for the board's approval.
SWC has recently concluded its second hearing on the issue of appointment of government directors on board on Wednesday.