Bombay Dyeing sells loss-making polyester plant to RIL for Rs300 crore: report
28 Jul 2010
Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Co, the flagship firm of the Wadia Group, has sold its loss-making polyester plant in Pune to one-time arch rival Reliance Industries (RIL) for Rs300 crore, The Economic Times reported today.
The sale hopefully should end the long, bitter feud between the Wadia and Ambani families that erupted in the '80s when both were entering the polyster filaments yarn manufacturing business, using rival technologies.
The Bombay Dyeing polyester plant said to have been sold to RIL was central to the bitter rivalry between the two families since 1980's.
The report said RIL acquired the loss-making polyester plant outbidding Indo Rama and JBF Industries and a formal announcement was likely to be made early next week.
Bombay Dyeing has been reporting losses for many quarters in a row and its petrochemicals and textiles divisions lost about Rs100 crore 2010, while its real estate division reported pre-tax profit of Rs346.5 crore in 2010.
The sale will help Bombay Dyeing reduce its debts and enable it to focus on its profit-making real estate business given the fact that it holds huge tracts of land in Mumbai.
The acquisition will boost RIL's polyester capacity to over 9 lakh tonnes annually.