Amtek Auto hits 20% upper circuit as Bharat Forge in race to acquire company

Traders as well as investors queued up to buy shares of Amtek Auto in open market after multinational company Bharat Forge said it is going to join the race to acquire the debt-laden company. The stock was locked at 20 percent upper circuit at Rs 29.70 per share.

At 14:10 hours IST, there were pending buy orders of 1,118,759 shares, with no sellers available on the BSE.

Amtek Group companies Castex Technologies and Metalyst Forgings were also locked at 10 percent and 20 percent upper circuit, respectively.

In a clarification note, Bharat Forge said it has also participated in the process of acquiring Amtek Auto, along with other potential bidders.

As regards Amtek Auto, there is currently a process being run under the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for selling the company due to heavy debt burden. Amtek is among 12 companies that were identified by the Reserve Bank of India for resolution under the Insolvency Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in June.

Amtek Auto reported a net loss of Rs 862.43 crore for the June quarter on total revenue of Rs 446.84 crore. In the previous financial year, the net loss stood at Rs 1,494.22 crore, while the total revenue was Rs 1,982.46 crore. The company has asked for an extension till January 30, 2018 to file its results for the September quarter.

The holding company owed at least Rs 14,074 crore to various lenders as of March 2017.

Meanwhile, Bharat Forge share price was off day's high, rising 1 percent after hitting a record high of Rs 722.