REG - Mercantile Ports&Log - Update on Delhi High Court Interim Order

Mercantile Ports & LogisticsAnnouncement

08/10/2025 13:00

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RNS Number : 5986C  Mercantile Ports & Logistics Ltd  08 October 2025

Mercantile Ports & Logistics Limited

("MPL", the Group or the "Company")

Update on Delhi High Court Interim Order

 

Mercantile Ports & Logistics Limited (AIM: MPL), which operates and
continues to develop a port and logistics facility in Navi Mumbai,
Maharashtra, provides an update following the Delhi High Court's ruling on the
hearing of 06 October 2025 in the Company's petition concerning the annulment
of the previously sanctioned One-Time Settlement ("OTS") and Swiss-Challenge
process agreed with its lending consortium.

 

The Court has declined to grant the Company interim relief at this stage. MPL
notes that it had fully complied with all obligations under the sanctioned
OTS, including agreeing to the payment of earnest money of INR 43 crore
(approx. US$ 4.8 million / £ 3.6 million), and had been declared the highest
bidder in the original Swiss-Challenge process approved by all three
consortium banks.

 

The Company remains concerned that the OTS was cancelled on the ground that it
had not got consent from all lenders as Bank of Baroda withheld its final
sanction for more than two months without explanation. Alarmingly a new
Swiss-Challenge auction was hastily launched the following day on revised
terms that excluded MPL's subsidiary and lowered the approval threshold
compared with the original process.

 

MPL also notes with concern that this fresh auction could now benefit the same
bidder that lost in the original Swiss-Challenge round, raising questions of
transparency and consistency in the process.

The Company has now filed an appeal at the appellate level of the Delhi High
Court and, if required, will also seek redress from the Supreme Court of
India.

 

Pav Bakhshi, Managing Director of MPL commented,

 

"I am surprised and disappointed that the arbitrary nature of cancelling the
duly sanctioned OTS has not been recognised.  We believe that we have
fulfilled all our obligations and that the original agreement should be
honoured.

 

Our port has been built with British, Indian and American capital and now
stands poised to support India's growing role in international trade. The
continuing international investor interest we see in the future expansion of
the Karanja facility reflects the valuable role the port can play in India's
expanding economy."

 

Further announcements will be made as developments unfold.

 

For further information, please visit www.mercpl.com
(https://www.mercpl.com/)  or contact:

  MPL                               c/o Cavendish

                                    +44 (0) 20 7220 0500
 Cavendish Capital Markets Limited  Stephen Keys

 (Nomad and Broker)                 +44 (0) 20 7220 0500

 

 

 

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