Three-PSU consortium wins bid for MAMC assets

The venerable public sector undertaking Mining and Allied Machinery Corp (MAMC) in Durgapur - the first central PSU in Bengal set up under the rupee-rouble agreement and enjoying Soviet patronage in the early 1960s - got a new lease of life on Friday after a consortium of three 'navratna' companies bought out its assets in an open auction for Rs100 crore.

It's the third PSU in Bengal to be revived a fresh lease of life in a couple of days after Burn Standard and Braithwaite were taken over by the railway ministry on Thursday.

The consortium, comprising Bharat Earth Movers, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and Coal India Ltd, paid Rs18.75 crore as earnest money to the Calcutta high court on Friday and promised to pay the remaining amount within a month.

Bharat Earth Movers has the highest stake (48 per cent) in the consortium, while DVC and Coal India have 26 per cent stake each. The consortium had engaged consultants from the Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) and IDBI capital markets to do a feasibility study before claiming its stake in the company that downed its shutters eight years ago on 3 January 2002.

Members of the consortium believe they will be able to utilise the old machinery with the MAMC to explore underground coal mines.

DVC Chairman Subrata Biswas confirmed that the consortium had indeed emerged the highest bidder. Set for an initial public offering, Coal India chairman Partha Bhattcharyya, who is now outside the country, also confirmed the development.