Nanz up for grabs

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI, November 6

Nanz Food Products Ltd, the company that operates the Nanz chain of stores, is up for grabs. The company has been promoted equally by three partners: Nanda-controlled Goetze India Ltd, Nanz of Germany and Marsh of the US. However, the company is being managed by the Nandas of Escorts.

If market buzz is to be believed, all the three partners have decided to offload their respective stakes in the company. "Talks are going on with a few Indian companies and the deal should be concluded this month itself," a source close to the Nandas disclosed to a financial daily recently. In fact, talks with the RPG group, which has interests in retail, are at an advanced stage, revealed the market source.

Observers say that the three partners in the Nanz venture had an agreement that they will either be in the JV together or get out of it. What hastened the decision to put the business on the block was the fact that Nanz of Germany is exiting the retail chain business. The Nandas too realised that they were not being able to give it the attention it deserved. The Rs 20 crore-Nanz Food Products Ltd is making heavy losses currently.

So far, no valuation of the company has been made. The Nandas are waiting for the prospective buyer to carry out a due diligence and fix a value to the company's stock.

Over the last few months, the Nandas have decided to stick to their core business of agri-machinery, information technology and telecom, and reduce its exposure in all other businesses. In April this year, Escorts sold 24 per cent stake in two-wheeler company Escorts Yamaha Motor Ltd to its Japanese partner in a Rs 230-crore deal.

Alongside, in the last year-and-a-half, Escorts has offloaded substantial chunks of its equity in the other joint ventures - Escorts JCB, Hughes Escorts Communication - to its overseas partners.

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