Just wondering ...

What happened to Purnendu Chatterjee’s plans of buying a majority stake in Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL). Well, the prize continues to elude Chatterjee. His battle with the West Bengal government to wrest control of the company is now being fought in the Supreme Court. In dispute is the majority shareholding in the company.

There is no clarity on the shareholding of any of the promoters of HPL. “As per records of the Registrar of Companies, WBIDC holds 51.67 per cent of the paid-up share capital of HPL,” says A.K. Chattopadhyay, Head (Legal), Vice President and Deputy Company Secretary, HPL, who declines to disclose any other details about shareholding, citing the sub-judice nature of the case. In September 2007, the Calcutta High Court had set aside an earlier order by the Company Law Board that directed the WBIDC to sell its stake to The Chatterjee Group (owned by Chatterjee) and exit the venture.

—Kapil Bajaj