Mumbai: A UK-based fund that stung Coal India Ltd with lawsuits in 2012 said on Wednesday that it was happy about the generous dividend announced by the company, but will continue to fight for compensation it has demanded for underpricing the fuel.
Coal India on Tuesday declared a special dividend payout aggregating to a record Rs.18,317,46 crore at Rs.29 per share, compared with the Rs.14 per share it paid last year.
“I am actually very pleased that the government of India (GoI)/Coal India finally does the right thing by paying higher dividends rather than placing stock at depressed levels,” Oscar Veldhuijzen, partner at The Children’s Investment Fund Management (UK) LLP, or TCI, said in response to an emailed questionnaire. “… A 100% dividend payout is certainly a major step in the right direction.”
Veldhuijzen said hearings on the suits it filed against CIL are coming up for hearing this year.
TCI filed petitions in the Calcutta and Delhi high courts in 2012. TCI also filed a notice to the government on a “dispute” arising out of the UK and Cyprus treaties for mutual promotion and protection of investors.
TCI told Mint in June 2012 that it wants “hundreds of million dollars” in compensation and accused the government and the officials of Coal India—the world’s largest coal miner—of mismanagement and underpricing of coal, among others.