Aptech Training lost ground on Friday on selling pressure, following reports that the DRT II has restricted the company's promoter from offloading or transferring his stake in the company.

As a result, promoter Atul Nishar's plans of selling its holding in the company to SSI are in the doldrums.

By 11:00 IST, the stock of the IT education company slipped by 5.48% to Rs 29.30 on the BSE, recording a volumes of 47,281 shares.

The slide on the Aptech Training counter was purely on reports that the Debt Recovery Tribunal II, Chennai, has passing an interim direction restraining Atul Nishar from transferring or selling his stake in the company, following a case filed by the State Bank of Travancore against Apple Credit Corporation in May 2001, for defaulting on a Rs 20.75-crore loan.

Atul Nishar had stood guarantor to the loan extended to Apple Credit. Therefore, the DRT II has restricted Nishar from transferring or selling his stake in Aptech Training and Hexaware Technologies.

With this order, the sell-off of Nishar's stake in Aptech Training to SSI has hit a roadblock, as SSI was planning to acquire ATL.

The recently listed ATL commenced trading on the bourses on 24 September 2002, following the de-merger of erstwhile Aptech into two companies - Hexaware Technologies and ATL. The latter made its debut at Rs 45 per share on the BSE.

On 29 December 2002, the Bombay High Court granted its nod to the erstwhile Aptech's restructuring scheme involving the separation of the training and education business (Aptech Training) from the software business (Hexaware Technologies).

Simultaneously, Hexaware Technologies , a SEI CMM Level 5 software company (unlisted in India) with a focus on the US and European markets, was merged with Aptech (the software entity). The merged software entity was then called as Hexaware Technologies

The shareholders of erstwhile Aptech had earlier approved the composite restructuring scheme at an extra-ordinary general meeting held on 27 September 2001. The restructuring came into effect from 1 April 2001. The paid-up capital got divided between the two companies Hexaware Technologies ( merged software entity) and Aptech Training in a ratio of 40:60. For every 10 shares in the erstwhile Aptech, each shareholder got 4 equity shares of Hexaware Technologies and 6 new equity shares in ATL. The equity share capital of ATL now stands at Rs 18.14 crore.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2002, ATL registered a net profit of Rs 1.76 crore on a 41% drop in net sales to Rs 36.86 crore.

BSE Code: 532129