Facing the heat after the arrest of its Managing Director Shahid Balwa, DB Realty on Friday sought to downplay its relations with Etisalat DB Telecom and maintained that it was not looking for any restructuring of the ownership at this stage.
"First of all, I would like to clarify that DB Realty and Etisalat DB have no connection," said Vinod Goenka, the other Managing Director of the Rs. 3,200 crore (Rs. 32 billion) real estate company.
"There is no share holding of DB Realty in Etisalat DB barring the investments (in Swan Telecom), which were made by Shahid and I in our personal capacity. There is no other connection between the two companies. This I must clarify to everyone," he said.
Balwa was arrested after he ignored CBI summons on two occasions. He has since been brought to New Delhi for being confronted with former Telecom Minister A Raja, who is in CBI custody since February 2.
According to the CBI FIR, Swan Telecom, which was being promoted by Balwa, was alloted UAS licences for 13 circles for Rs. 1,537 crore (Rs. 15.37 billion) and it sold 45 per cent of shares before roll-out to UAE-based Etislat for Rs. 4,200 crore (Rs. 42 billion).
Asked whether he was looking for restructuring the firm, including the ownership, Goenka said the company is not looking at changing the shareholding of the company. "It is too soon to take that call.
"Shahid and I were managing jointly, we shared all information. There is no gap as far as the information is concerned. As soon as this happened (arrest of Balwa), I have taken over and now I am in the driver seat," said Goenka.
Noting that the company has not received any cancellation from customers following arrest made by CBI, he said: "It is just that I will be in the driver's seat as far as the management is concerned and we are not looking at changing the shareholding of the company."
On the company's performance, he said it is expecting highest-ever sales bookings of Rs. 3,200 crore (Rs. 32 billion) this fiscal.
"After last quarter, our company's debts are extremely low. We have only Rs. 380 crore (Rs. 3. 80 billion) of debt on the balance sheet with the net worth of Rs. 3,200 crore (Rs. 32 billion)," he said.
Attempting to put speculation at rest about the funding of its projects, Goenka said: "PSU banks will definitely apply their minds. From private banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, we should not have a problem in construction finance," said Goenka.