Elder Pharma files for insolvency

Elder Pharmaceuticals has filed for insolvency, in an attempt to restructure its debt, according to a source .The Company began disintegrating after the demise of founder Jagdish Saxena and a family feud that followed.

The company had an unpaid debt of around Rs 1,000 crore as on end of June 2014 and had suffered a loss of Rs 51 crore in the quarter ended March 2015. In addition to this ,trading of its shares had been suspended on the bourses. It was the last intimation by Elder to the BSE on its financials.

Earlier, investors had taken Elder to court as a round 23,000 small investors have not been paid their principal or the interest on their fixed deposits in the company. Around Rs 150 crore are the dues to these small investors.

The company also has dues to the statutory authorities worth Rs 8 crore.In April last year; the company declared to the Mumbai High Court that it had assets worth Rs 1,935.77 crore. It had written off trade advances of Rs 176 crore and other advances worth Rs 855 crore to various parties.

The company was also in trouble in Dubai, where it is the guarantor for its international subsidiary. A bank has taken legal action to enforce payment of the guarantee. This is worth almost Rs 95 crore. However experts are baffled as to why Elder has not been able to set its books right with the assets it has.

SmartInvester reports that the company has sold 30 of its brands to Torrent Pharmaceuticals. Its real estate assets are worth at least Rs 600 crore. The company had stated that depositors and investors have not been paid due to litigation.

Elder Pharmaceuticals was set up in 1988 with a manufacturing plant in Navi Mumbai. It had a major presence in women’s health care, lifestyle diseases and pain management. Around 90 per cent of its revenue was from the domestic market and Shelcal, a calcium supplement, was a leading brand of the company .