Thapar Groups Waterbase Is Up For Sale
Thapar group-controlled Waterbase Ltd is up for sale. The aquaculture company is talking to three buyers who are ready to pick up the entire Thapar stake in Waterbase.
Group chairman Lalit Mohan Thapar said: Aquaculture business is a very personalised and dependent on nature...It is better to get out of this business than be in it at all.
Waterbase, which was set up in 1991, was the brainchild of Vikram Thapar, L M Thapars nephew who is a angler himself. Set up in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, the aquaculture facility includes one of the countrys largest prawn hatchery, a state-of-the-art feed-producing unit and a processing plant.
The company had been in trouble ever since a dreaded viral disease destroyed the entire crop two years ago. The company then decided to close down the hatcheries and concentrate on manufacturing feeds. According to sources, the Indian market for quality feed is very small and the only way out would have beeen to export feeds. However, this would have required a major marketing push and fresh investments.
The company, which has been promoted by KCT-CS Ltd controlled by I M Thapar, Vikram Thapars father, and JCT Ltd has an equity base of Rs 24.74 crore. It made a substantial loss of Rs 13.35 crore in the period ended March 1996. It posted a turnover of Rs 33 crore in this period.
The companys share price has tumbled and currently hovers at Rs 3 per share. Its 52-week high was Rs 9.