HLL to hive off unused land into 3 cos

The Hindustan Lever board on Friday approved the proposal to hive off its unused land at Shamnagar and Jamnagar and the vacant leasehold land at Daverashola into three separate companies. The three outfits will be 100 per cent subsidiaries of the company, with effect from October.

In the recent past, HLL has been in the news for its move to shift its Mumbai headquarters, Lever House in South Mumbai, to a new campus in Andheri. It is also relocating its foods headquarters, Brookefields,  Bangalore to Mumbai.

Analysts said the demerger of these idle assets could be the precursor to selling the land. HLL has also been reportedly selling many of the flats owned by the company in prime locations.

The board meeting also approved the merger of Modern Food Industries Limited (MFIL) and its subsidiary Modern Food and Nutrition Industries Limited (MFNIL) with the company, with effect from October 1, 2006.

In terms of the Scheme of Amalgamation the entire shareholding of the two companies would stand cancelled and accordingly no valuation exercise or recommendation of share exchange ratio was made.

The company also informed the stock exchanges that MFIL at its board meeting held on Friday approved the proposal for its amalgamation with Hindustan Lever Limited while the board meeting of MFNIL in this regard is scheduled to be held on September 11.