21 September 2011

Wockhardt gets a week to work out settlement

Bombay High Court today granted an additional one week's time to the debt-ridden Wockhardt to arrive at a workable solution to handle the litigations from
its foreign debtors, but also asked the company to delink this repayment from its recent asset sale to French foods major Danone.
The drug-maker had been rapped by the High Court earlier and asked to pay Rs 350 crore it owes to its foreign creditors without delay.
At the hearing today, the HC criticised Wockhardt on its debt and directed it to delink the repayment to its foreign currency convertible bond (FCCB) holders from its asset sale to Danone.
The court has fixed the next hearing on September 29. A group of bondholders led by the bond trustee of the Bank of New York Mellon, Sun Pharma Global and hedge fund QVT besides some creditors had taken Wockhardt to court, filing a wind-up petition, after the company defaulted on repayment of
its USD 110-million FCCBs, in 2009.
In the course of the proceedings, Wockhardt had been restrained from selling assets without approval from the HC. Early last month, Wockhardt signed a Rs 1,600-crore deal with Danone to sell its nutrition business to the French
multinational. The High Court is yet to approve the deal.
Today, Wockhardt sought some extra time to seek the proposal or solution for repayment that would fit all the parties- CDR as well as the bond holders.

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