Manpasand Beverages faces hostile takeover, chairman files FIR against 7 persons

The chairman and managing director of Vadodara-based Manpasand Beverages is scrambling to foil a hostile takeover attempt from Mumbai-based Finquest Financial Solutions Pvt Ltd's (FFSPL) Bharat Patel and his associates, which saw stock falling nearly 5 per cent on the bourses.

"The owner of Manpasand Beverages, Dhirendra Hansraj Singh, has filed a First Information Report (FIR) against seven persons - Bharat Patel, Hardik Patel, Ajay Agarwal, Vishal Zariwala, Vishal Sood, Pavan Rathi, and Parashiva Murthy, the chairman of financial firm Finkvist Financial Institution - in matter of hostile takeover of the drink-maker," Manpasand Beverages said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

According to the FIR filed by Singh, these persons lured the company with a attractive offer of Rs 100 crore loan and took possession of the company's property in Vadodara, but never released the promised amount, The Indian Express reported.

The company also informed the exchange that its three directors - Bipin Rathod, Uday Kamath and Jitendra Dhivare - have resigned with immediate effect.

"The designation of Bipin Rathod, Uday Kamath and Jitendra Dhivare in the company is not independent directors, but they are nominee directors of the company, Manpasand Beverages said in the exchange filing.

On September 17, the company's secretary and compliance officer, Shailika Soni, had resigned, citing personal reasons. The resignation letter was dated September 10.

In May, the company's managing director (MD) Abhishek Singh and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Paresh Thakkar were arrested on allegation of creating fake company units and committing tax invasion. Following the aftermath of Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion, three board members of Manpasand Beverages had also resigned.

Weighed down by the development, shares of Manpasand Beverages fell as much as 4.93 per cent to Rs 7.13 per cent, on the BSE.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar

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