Purnendu's Fall From Grace ; Till Recently, Purnendu Chatterjee Was West Bengal's Blue-Eyed Boy. But Now He's Fighting a Bitter Battle with the State Government for Control of the Jointly-Owned Haldia Petrochemicals. What Went Wrong?

Business Today › October 24, 2005

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Summary

If things had worked out as per Purnendu Chatterjee's plan, the Chairman of The Chatterjee Group (TCG) would by now have been part- czar of the polymer world. His successful bid, along with us-based Russian-born investor Leonard Blavatnik, for Royal Dutch/Shell and BASF's polymer company, Basell NV would not just have received clearance from European regulators, but the acquisition itself would have been completed. And Chatterjee, along with his friend of 15 years, would have been busy trying to "enhance competitiveness, operational efficiency, and financial performance" of Basell (as Blavatnik said of his to-do in a release after the acquisition was completed on August 1).

But today, less than four months after the 55-year-old made banner headlines for partaking in the $5.7-billion (Rs 25,080- crore) takeover, Chatterjee is embroiled in a bitter war with the West Bengal government for control of Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL), jointly promoted (the Tatas hold a token 3 per cent stake) 11 years ago and showcased to the world as an example of the Communist state's new industrial philosophy of development and partnership. On August 3, though, the almost year-old battle between the two took a turn for the worse, with the state government selling 7.5 per cent of its 33 per cent stake in HPL to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), despite Chatterjee's protests.

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Purnendu's Fall From Grace ; Till Recently, Purnendu Chatterjee Was West Bengal's Blue-Eyed Boy. But Now He's Fighting a Bitter Battle with the State Government for Control of the Jointly-Owned Haldia Petrochemicals. What Went Wrong?

The non-resident Indian (he's been an American citizen for 15 years now) responded by dragging the state-owned West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) to the Company Law Board (CLB), challenging the sale. On August 5, the CLB issued an interim order that did not bar the transfer, but asked status quo to be maintained in shareholding (see From Bad To Worse). A little over two weeks later, Chatterjee filed a second ...

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