Not averse to takeover of weak biz during Covid-19 crisis: Uday Kotak

'Why should an investor be barred from selling his investments, which are currently hammered on account of the pandemic ?,' said Kotak

Newly elected CII president Uday Kotak has said that he is not averse to the idea of takeover of weak businesses by financially strong entities, as long as it is in the interest of investors.

“Why should an investor be barred from selling his investments, which are currently hammered on account of the pandemic?,” said Kotak, adding that the decision to take a call should be left to the investor.

However, he said, the government could take steps to prevent and protect India’s domestic businesses from predatory takeover from investors belonging to certain specific nations, because of strategic reasons.

“Is this money coming from countries where we have a strategic-level issue?... then it’s a very separate issue. Even the US wants to protect some key strategic sectors from some countries, for good reason. So, I would say that is a very different reason,” he added. As far as other takeovers are concerned, he said:

 “We have to look at the interests of both sides. On the one side is the interest of an existing entrenched management... on the other side is a very poor performance of the investors’ money”.