NEW DELHI: The two foreign shareholders in Infrastructure Leasing Financial Services Ltd have reached out to the Indian government to seek more details of the troubles at the debt-laden company, worried about their investments.Orix Corporation of Japan and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which hold 23.54 per cent and 12.56 per cent stakes in ILFS, respectively, have approached both the ministry of finance and the ministry of corporate affairs, a senior official said.We are also open to talk with them and explain the steps which the government took.
They do support the governments move given the value of the firm will be preserved, he said.
The government replaced directors on the ILFS board earlier this week.We are not making any comment on ILFS-related matters, AIDA said in an email response.
An email sent to Orix did not elicit any response till the time of filing this story.The government official said that since there is no change in the status of the nominee directors on the board of ILFS, there is no cause for concern for the two foreign investors.ADIA, which invests funds on behalf of the Government of Abu Dhabi, had committed to put in $1 billion in Indias National Infrastructure Investment Fund last year.Orix operates businesses in the operations, financial services and investment spaces.
Its business activities span industries such as energy, private equity, infrastructure, automotive, ship and aircraft, real estate and retail financial services.Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, ADIA and Central Bank of India have one nominee director each on the board, with Orix represented by two nominee directors.The government sacked the ILFS board on Monday and appointed six new members Uday Kotak, Vineet Nayyar, GN Bajpai, GC Chaturvedi, Malini Shankar and Nand Kishore to restore the companys credibility.The government has made former directors Hari Sankaran, Arun K Saha, SB Mathur, RC Bhargava, Michael Pinto, Jaithirth Rao, Rina Kamath respondents in the case, as well as MM Wagle, Varsha Sawant and Ravi Parthasarathy.Sankaran was vice chairman and managing director, Saha was joint MD and CEO, Wagle was CFO and Sawant was company secretary.
Mathur, Bhargava, Pinto, Rao and Kamath were independent directors.