Eclipse Looms Over Chandamama: Bombay HC Orders Its Sale Over Parent Company’s Troubles

Intellectual-property rights of Chennai-based popular kids magazine Chandamama have been ordered to be put on sale by Bombay High Court, reports The New Indian Express.

Founded in 1947 the magazine is currently valued at Rs 25 crore.

Its rights are currently held by the magazine’s parent company Geodesic Ltd which is facing liquidation over allegations of misappropriation of funds and fraud. Three Geodesic directors Kiran Prakash Kulkarni, Prashant Mulekar and Pankaj Shrivastav are currently in jail.

Geodesic had acquired Chandamama for Rs 10.2 crore in 2007 from the son of its co-founder B Nagi Reddy.

The order passed by Justice S J Kathawalla stated that,“ the directors of Geodesic have appeared before the court and given their unconditional consent for the possession and sale of tangible and intangible assets of Geodesic Ltd, including its subsidiary companies (both Indian and overseas companies) in favour of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as ordered by the court of law”.

“….the issue as to whether the official liquidator/creditors of the company are entitled to receive the sale proceeds deposited with the PML Court as proceeds of crime, is kept open,” stated the order.

In June 2014 the Bombay High Court had taken possession of Geodesic’s assets after the company failed to pay $162 million to its Foreign Currency Convertible Bond (FCCB) holders.