MRPL eyes Mallya's Mangalore Fertilizers stake

[email protected] (Times of India)
May 8, 2012

mcfMumbai, May 8: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), majority owned by state-owned ONGC, has expressed interest to acquire promoter's stake in Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers (MCF), said a source directly involved with the matter.

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya's UB Group holds little over 30% stake in MCF, a non-core investment that may be sold to fund its bleeding Kingfisher Airlines. MRPL managing director Uttam Kumar Basu has written a letter to Mallya last month expressing interest to takeover MCF and seeking permission to start a due diligence. U K Basu declined to offer any comments while ONGC chairman Sudhir Vasudeva, who is in Kuwait to attend an international oil and gas conference, could not be immediately reached for his comments.

Recent media reports said Zuari Industries and Chambal Chemicals & Fertilizers have evinced interest to buy Mallya's fertilizer unit. The ONGC subsidiary finds MCF a strategic fit, which is in close vicinity and the refinery by-products naphtha and fuel oil may be used as feed stock to operate the fertilizer plant.

MRPL MD U K Basu term is coming to an end in June and MRPL director technical P P Upadhya is likely to take over new MD from July. "Yes, MRPL is interested in that asset but it's too premature to comment anything at this point of time," said the source briefed about the matter, adding that we are yet to hear anything from UB group. MCF shares closed at Rs 40, valuing the firm close to Rs 500 crore. But the deal is likely to be done at a premium considering the over 200 acres land bank of the company can be used for further expansion.

"I don't think UB Group is interested in keeping this fertilizer business under its fold and it would be a good move if they sell it to MRPL because of the synergies it draws. With this sale, UB Group will get some breathing space as it struggles to keep afloat the debt laden kingfisher airlines," said investment advisor S P Tulsian.




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News Network
April 28,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 28: A local court in Karnataka on Tuesday granted bail to a CRPF commando who was arrested by state police officials for alleged assault on them during COVID-19 lockdown duty, a charge contested strongly by the paramilitary.

The jawan has been taken to the jungle warfare training school of the paramilitary force in Belagavi district, a senior official said.

Constable Sachin Savant of the 207th CoBRA battalion was granted regular bail by a court located in Chikodi taluka of the district, he said.

A team of CRPF and CoBRA officials were present in the court during the proceeding during which the state police did not oppose the bail, the official said.

The commando was arrested by police on April 23 from Examba village (Belagavi district) when he was washing his bike outside his house without wearing a mask, as required under the coronavirus prevention protocol.

An altercation and physical fight took place between the two sides, following which the trooper was taken to the local police station and arrested.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had on Monday taken up the case with the Karnataka director general of police (DGP), calling the incident "unpleasant".

The CRPF letter said commando Savant was "manhandled, ill-treated, paraded to the police station barefooted, kept in chains and handcuffs" by police personnel and sought the intervention of state Director General of Police Praveen Sood.

The paramilitary had said that from the scrutiny of a viral video on social media of the incident "it is apparent that the conduct of the police personnel was not citizen-centric".

A police report had said the CoBRA commando "started the altercation" with the beat constable and another policeman accompanying him, and "assaulted" them.

As per the official Twitter handle of the Karnataka DGP's on Monday evening, "IGP (inspector-general of police) Belagavi has been asked to enquire into the incident involving the CRPF constable and action will be taken against guilty after receipt of the report".

The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the CRPF specialises in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 2,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 2: A middle aged man who was battling health issues due to kidney-related ailments, breathed his last at a private hospital.

He was tested positive for coronavirus.

The deceased was a 49-year-old resident of Kalladka in Bantwal.

According to sources, the man, was getting treated for tuberculosis and liver-related ailments, he was at home since 20 days.

On June 27 he was admitted to the private hospital in the city due to kidney related ailment.

With this, the total number of death of covid patients in the district reached to 18.

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News Network
January 18,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 18: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the "flag-bearer" of the Indian culture and tradition.

In his speech at an event organised by Vedanta Bharati here, Shah said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is touring across the globe as the flag bearer of the Indian culture and tradition." To buttress his point, the BJP National President said Modi took a holy dip in Ganga and attended Ganga Arati in Varanasi before taking oath as the Prime Minister.

It was for the first time that Modi sent red sander to Pashupatinath Temple in Nepal to perform special prayers on behalf of the government of India.

Shah also slammed the previous governments for their wrong interpretation of secularism, preventing them from honouring the best things of the country. "But after a long interval we have a Prime Minister who sends across the message that we have a lot to give to the world," Shah said.

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