Public Sector Madras Fertilizers Ltd. (MFL) is planning to dispose of its surplus land of 70 acres at its premises in Manali, near here.
The company had sought shareholders’ approval through a postal ballot for the same.
“Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (CPCL) has come forward to buy 4.98 acres, and the balance at a later date,” said a top company official.
“However, CPCL has not given us firm commitment and, hence, we are scouting for other parties to dispose of the remaining land,” he said.
The surplus land is being sold following a directive from the Department of Fertilizers last year, that asked MFL to explore the possibility of monetising surplus land available at its premises.
After obtaining a ‘no objection certificate’ from the State government for selling the land to CPCL, MFL, in consultation with the district collector, fixed selling price at ₹976 per sq.ft.
“The remaining land will be sold either to CPCL, any other public sector units, Tamil Nadu government or to any other party,” the official said.
In a separate communication, the department had also asked MFL to comply with the listing norms for maintaining minimum public shareholding. Accordingly, the company will rise the holding to 25%. After the dilution, the Centre’s stake would come down to 51% from 59.50%, while that of NICO from 25.33% to 24%.
The postal ballot for seeking shareholders approval opens on July 12 and closes on August 14.
Earlier, MFL was planning to monetize the surplus land by setting up a warehousing-cum-logistics park either in joint venture or through public-private-partnership.
“With the change of guard, the earlier scheme has been dropped,” the official said.