Drug-maker Wockhardt may have staved-off an earlier wind-up petition against it by foreign investors, disgruntled with its corporate debt restructuring (CDR) process. But the company faces a fresh wind-up petition, with the Bombay High Court admitting the same, filed by bond-holders, unhappy with Wockhardt for defaulting on the repayment of its $110 million FCCB (foreign currency convertible bonds).
The petition was filed by bond trustee BNY Corporate Trustee Services Ltd (the Bank of New York Mellon), on behalf of bond-holders including Sun Pharma Global and QVT, a source familiar with the development said. Sun reportedly holds about 20 per cent of Wockhardt's FCCB.
Responding to whether the petitioner has asked the Court to appoint a liquidator to sell Wockhardt's assets, to be able to recover their investments, the source said: “Not yet, but there is a due process that is to be followed in such winding up cases.”
A Wockhardt spokesperson told
Saddled with a debt of over Rs 3,700 crore in 2008, Wockhardt had gone in for the CDR process. It defaulted on its FCCBs in late 2009. And options placed by Wockhardt to its creditors and investors, as part of the CDR process, did not find total acceptance.
In fact, some of them had approached the Bombay High Court , saying that the CDR process was one-sided and had not taken on board the investors, bond-holders, etc. A wind-up petition filed in Bombay HC by Singapore-based bank DBS, had ended with the two companies reaching a settlement in late 2009.