Government-owned MMTC has decided to drop its joint venture SEZ plan with the two Maytas firms promoted by B Ramalinga Raju's family after surfacing of the multi-billion Satyam [Get Quote] fraud. Though the decision to pull out of the Rs 8,603-crore (Rs 86.03 billion) multi-services SEZ project in Tamil Nadu has been taken by the MMTC brass, the formal approval for aborting the plan is expected on January 16 from the MMTC board.
"We have sought the board's approval not to go ahead with the plan," MMTC chairman and managing director Sanjiv Batra told PTI.
The company had sought shareholders' approval through postal ballot for an equity investment of Rs 85.85 crore (Rs 858.5 million) in the joint venture SEZ with Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra.
The minority shareholders were given time up to January 30 for giving their response.
However, the outcome of the ballot would make no difference to MMTC's decision to abandon the JV with the tainted Hyderabad firms since the government owns over 99 per cent of the trading major.
"It (ballot response) would make no difference since the majority equity is held by the government," Batra said.
The $5-billion PSU had proposed to pick up to five per cent equity stake in the JV.
The 8,603-crore SEZ was to have an equity component of Rs 1,717 crore (Rs 17.17 billion) and debt of Rs 3,495 crore (Rs 34.95 billion). The balance was to be financed through lease rentals and pre-sales.
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