ANZ to sell Oswal stake in Burrup Fertilisers to Apache for $560 mn

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has struck a deal to sell a 65-per cent stake in Australia's Burrup Fertilisers to US energy company Apache Energy for a discounted $560 million, the ammonia company formerly controlled by the controversial Oswal family, Australian media today reported.

But the deal is mired in controversy since Radhika Oswal, wife of Indian tycoon Pankaj Oswal, has sought an injunction from the Victorian Supreme Court to block the sale of her 35-per cent stake in Burrup, while minority shareholder Norwegian chemicals giant Yara International could invoke its preemptive rights to match Apache's offer.

In December 2010, Burrup Fertilisers, Australia's largest ammonia producer and majority owned by Pankaj Oswal of the Oswal Group Global, had been put under receivership by its creditor ANZ.

Oswal and his wife Radhika, who have recently migrated to Dubai, own 65 per cent of privately-held Burrup through its parent Burrup Holdings, while the remaining 35 per cent is held by Yara.

Burrup Group owes ANZ around A$800 million, of which A$360 million is owed by Burrup Fertiliser, and the remaining A$440 by the Oswal Group. This is ANZ's biggest single impaired asset.

It is alleged that Oswal misappropriated large sums of company funds for his personal interest and payouts made to a Singaporean firm for Oswal's Maruti Shipping Company without proper authority or disclosure.