Golden Tobacco - Property development proposal

On 24 September 2008, Golden Tobacco's board of directors had approved de-merger realty business in into a separate company. Shareholders will get one equity share in the new company for each share held in the existing company. Golden Tobacco holds a 7.5-acre property in western Mumbai. Reports estimated that the property, which is located in the upmarket Juhu Scheme, is worth at least Rs 200 crore. In addition to this, the company also owns land in other parts of Mumbai and Vadodara in Gujarat. As per reports dated 14 December 2009, Golden Tobacco's Sanjay Dalmia and Indiabulls Financial Services have reached at an out-of-court settlement to end a long standing legal battle at the Bombay High Court. Meanwhile the Bombay High Court has adjourned the case to 1 February 2010 and both the parties are required to frame the consent terms of this settlement during this particular period Indiabulls Financial Services had claimed that Sanjay Dalmia had duped the company of Rs 225 crore by allegedly mortgaging bogus property documents. On 13 November 2009, an investor along with a financier launched a hostile takeover bid to acquire a chunk in the Mumbai-based tobacco firm. Pramod Jain, a 43-year-old financial services consultant along with the Howrah-based JP Financial Services on 13 November 2009 made an unsolicited open offer to acquire another 25% equity in Sanjay Dalmia-controlled Golden Tobacco at Rs 101 a share. JP Financial Services is registered with the Reserve Bank of India as a non-banking finance company. The offer which is scheduled to open on 30 December 2009 and close on 18 January 2010 is subject to the clearance by market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi). It follows the acquisition of 6.47% stake in the company by Pramod Jain, Pranidhi Holdings and JP Financial Services. A major portion of the stake came through JP Financial Services' acquisition of 890,000 Golden Tobacco's pledged shares due to non-payment by an undisclosed borrower As per market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) takeover regulations an involuntary increase of above 5% in percentage shareholding triggers for an open offer obligation. Golden Tobacco's net profit slumped 92.70% to Rs 0.12 crore on 20% rise in net sales to Rs 29.99 crore in Q2 September 2009 over Q2 September 2008. Golden Tobacco manufactures and markets cigarettes and processed tobacco. The company makes various categories of cigarettes, namely full flavor, lights, ultra lights, menthol, menthol lights and extra menthol lights. Promoters have pledged 5.28 lakh shares representing 3% of the equity capital of the company. The total promoter shareholding in the company is 27.19% (as on 30 September 2009).