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Bajoria preparing ground to face Bombay Dyeing in CLB

Jute baron Arun Bajoria, is preparing to take on Bombay Dyeing's Nusli Wadia at the Company Law Board meeting soon, after having skipped answering Securities and Exchange Board of India's query about the shares he and his associates held in the company.

Bajoria, dubbed the 'new corporate raider', told PTI that the date of the CLB meeting for him to give details of his holdings in Bombay Dyeing was not known to him and he would be informed by the Board, "I am also exploring legal options against Bombay Dyeing for irregularities, if any, was committed."

He would send his replies to SEBI on their queries on Monday, Bajoria said, though the deadline had expired on Friday. "I could not file my replies in time."

Bajoria, however, reiterated that he had no intention of making a public offer to acquire Bombay Dyeing. "There is no point in making a public offer to increase my stake by another 20 per cent, as even then I will still not get management control.

"Though I am not prepared to make a public offer at present, if Nusli Wadia is willing to offer management control, I can put all my resources together," Bajoria said.

On reports in a section of press today that he had quietly sold off about two per cent shares of Bombay Dyeing recently, Bajoria said, "It was an absolutely rubbish report.

The concerned papers might have got some information from the depositories, but it is also true that they (the depositories) did not often have updated information."

"How can depositories come to know about the companies owned by me and also what is the holding of each company?" Bajoria asked.

He, however, said about 15-20 days back, he had sold about 200,000 shares of Bombay Dyeing in the market which might have decreased his holding by one or two per cent, but said later, "I repurchased the same number of shares and my holding remains intact."

Asked what percentage of shares of Wadia's company he held at present, Bajoria said, "It is somewhere in between 13 and 14 per cent, 13.5 per cent to tell you exactly."

"I have already informed SEBI through a letter dated August 4 that I hold 14 per cent shares and also made it clear that I had no intention to make bids for takeover of the company," he said.

"The entire thing was blown out of proportion by some newspapers. This is virtually a non-issue and a normal thing. It was purely an investment decision and happens quite often with one who invests through stock market."

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