Hindustan Motors seeks sharholder nod for T'vallur plant sale

Observing that the business of the company was under "strain", C K Birla Group company Hindustan Motors has sought the shareholders approval through a postal ballot for about Rs 150 crore by means of sale or through lease of its Tiruvallur car plant situated near Chennai.

In a BSE filing, the Kolkata-based company said, "...hereby accorded to the Board of Directors of the Company to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of the whole or substantially the whole or part of Chennai Car plant of the company at Adigathur, Tiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu to such person or persons and for such consideration which shall not be less than Rs 150 crore".

For the purpose of giving effect to the aforesaid resolution, the Board is authorised to do and perform all such acts and modes of disposal of the Chennai Car Plant aforesaid, it said.

"In the present day and circumstances, it is imperative to induct a suitable investor or a global leader in the respective businesses for viability in the long term and therefore, the company has been looking at suitable proposals for Chennai Car Plant," it said.

Hindustan Motors currently has two facilities one at Uttarpara in West Bengal and Tiruvallur plant in Tamil Nadu. While in Uttarpara the company manufactures the famous Ambassador, light commercial vehicle -- Winner while at the Chennai plant with a technical collaboration with Japanese-automaker Mitsubishi Motors, the company makes premium SUV Pajero Sport, premium sedan Cedia, luxury SUV Outlander and Montero.

It may be recalled that Japanese car maker Isuzu Motors entered into a contractual agreement with Hindustan Motors for contract assembling of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) units of ISUZU's sports utility vehicle MU-7 and pick-up truck D-Max from the Chennai plant.