Bangur Offers His Bfl Soft Stake At Rs 106 Per Share

Keshav Bangur, owner of BFL Software, has fixed a price of Rs 106 per share to sell his 65 per cent stake in the software company. Bangurs options now are to either sell it to a leading US multinational which will invest through the foreign direct investment (FDI) route, or to a Calcutta-based corporate group.

This eliminates other possibilities which were doing the rounds of the markets, including names like Ashok Advanis Business India group.

The price of Rs 106 per share is substantially higher than the ruling market price of between Rs 70-72. According to a source, the bidders who are negotiating with Bangur are understood to have agreed to the price of Rs 106. The 52-week high of the BFL share was Rs 150 while the low was Rs 30.

 

The price will fetch the cash-strapped Bangur around Rs 41 crore, from which he can meet his other commitments and start off with a clean slate, a source said.

``It is now a question of who comes first with the money. The advantage with the Indian bidder is the funds can come in much faster than in case of the US bidder, who will have to go through the FDI route, a source said.

The source said names like Infosys and Compaq, which were also being talked of as bidders, are also no longer in the picture.

The Calcutta group which has now emerged could be among these three: Rajive Kauls Nicco group, Keshavs brother Sree Kant Bangur and the Poddars.

The FDI route, the sources said, is expected to take anywhere between two to six weeks, which is why the Indian alternative appears more attractive to the Bangur faction now.

However, another important aspect of the sale of BFL Software will be whether the employees of the company would accept the new owner. If the new owner is found to be unacceptable, Bangur may not sell the controlling stake to him, it is learnt.

Bangur, who had spent a good deal of effort in building up BFL Software, would not have sold his controlling interest in the company if he could have helped it, the source said.

With the imminent sale of BFL Software, a prized company in his group, Keshav Bangur would now be left with two major interests, the Bank of Rajasthan, currently also in the thick of controversy, and Uxhur Bharat, a publication house. For the first half of 1996-97, BFL Software reported net sales of Rs 14.66 crore, with a net profit of Rs 4.19 crore, on an equity of Rs 6 crore.

The BFL stake offer price is much higher than the ruling market price between Rs 70 and Rs 72