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ABCL hopes for turnaround this year

It's action time again for millenium star Amitabh Bachchan's beleaguered dream venture Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited, with the entertainment company expecting to record a turnaround and box profits this fiscal and move out of the purview of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.

The company expects to record the turnaround on the strength of an internal restructuring exercise, Amar Singh, director of ABCL and Samajwadi Party leader, said.

The company, as a first step, will be restructuring its board this month and inducting new directors. ''The entire board will be revamped. However, I cannot divulge the details of the same,'' he added.

The company has also decided to concentrate on its core competency of making and marketing films. ''ABCL had recorded profit in its first year of operations as the company was concentrating solely on making films. The year we decided to diversify into managing events, the company came under cloud. Now, we are back with a bang.''

ABCL has already lined up three films -- one featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan, one with Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan and one starring Abhishek Bachchan as the solo hero. ''Filmmaking is the core competency area of ABCL and we will concentrate on that. There is no question of our going back to managing events.''

The matinee idol has also decided not to induct foreign equity in the venture as part of the restructuring exercise.

Meanwhile, the company has cleared all dues to creditors, except Doordarshan. ABCL's total dues to Doordarshan had amounted to Rs 176.5 million. It is learnt that Bollywood's 'man of the millenium' has proposed to pay the principal amount ABCL owes to Doordarshan. But in lieu of the interest, he has offered his services for endorsement.

ABCL, Bachchan's attempt to bring in some corporate discipline into filmmaking, was set up in 1995. The country's first media and entertainment conglomerate, ABCL had released big films like Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen, Mani Ratnam's Bombay and Priyadarshan's Sazaa-e-Kaala Paani, besides producing films like Tere Mere Sapne, Naam Kya Hai and Major Saab. The company had also marketed television serials.

ABCL had also managed the Miss World pageant held in 1996 in Bangalore, which had landed the company in deep financial mess. The company ran up huge losses and owed money to host of banks and television companies. In July last year, ABCL was declared sick by the BIFR. ABCL was referred to BIFR with accumulated losses of Rs 708.2 million, on a net worth of Rs 605.2 million.

The company prior to the announcement of BIFR's rehabilitation package, Singh said, has implemented the revival strategy.

''We have been awaiting a revival package from BIFR for long. But, we could not wait forever, so we decided to go ahead on our own.''

Bachchan had, on an earlier occasion, said that efforts were being made to restructure and pump back life into his debt-ridden ABCL. ''We are trying to restructure the operations of ABCL and put it back on track.'' However, he had refused to divulge details on the internal restructuring being planned for the company, saying, ''I cannot talk about it now.''

At least two ABCL creditors, Canara Bank and Allahabad Bank, had moved courts to appoint a court receiver to take over the super-star's bungalow and two flats in Bombay, to recover their dues.

Meanwhile, Combined Artistic Productions, a South African production company, which executed some of the works in connection with the Miss World beauty pageant held in 1996, had also filed a winding-up petition against ABCL.

It had also sought an interim order from the Bombay High Court seeking to restrain ABCL from, in any manner, transferring, selling, alienating or disposing of its assets, pending the hearing and final disposal of the petition.

In the petition, Combined Artistic Productions stated that an amount of $41,207, plus interest, is due to it from work conducted at the beauty pageant.

UNI

Money