PNB fraud: The empire of Nirav Modi

By Sajeet Manghat

Nirav Modi is at the centre of an alleged Rs 11,400-crore fraud at the state-run Punjab National Bank. He runs a network of retail stores and 26 subsidiaries across at least 10 countries, designing and making jewellery for the rich and famous.

Modi had offered to repay at least Rs 6,000 crore by selling assets, bank officials who didn’t want to be identified told BloombergQuint. Here’s a snapshot of his empire:

Modi is the promoter, managing director and chief executive officer of Firestar International Public Ltd., the parent of Firestar Diamond International Public Ltd. Modi converted the holding company, incorporated on April 1, 2004, into a public limited entity in December last year to raise capital for expanding his business.

All that he does

Modi’s group is an integrated diamond manufacturer that buys rough diamonds, sells polished stones and also makes jewellery. His business is organised into three segments:

• Diamonds: trades in rough and polished diamonds.
• Private label jewellery manufacturing and distribution segment: Produces unbranded jewellery for third parties.
• Branded jewellery and retail: Produces branded jewellery sold via retail outlets under the Nirav Modi brand name.

The group has nine retail boutiques in India and abroad.

Subsidiaries

Firestar International operates through 26 subsidiaries based in India, the U.S., the U.K., France, Macau, Hong Kong, Belgium, the U.A.E., Russia and Singapore, according to details in the private placement document filed with the Registrar of Companies.

Key Subsidiaries

Firestar Diamond International Public Ltd.

India-based 100 percent subsidiary of Modi’s group. For the year ended March 2016, it reported a turnover of Rs 1,928.81 crore, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies. Its profit before tax stood at Rs 97.41 crore and profit after tax was Rs 72.87 crore.

Finestar Diamond FZE, UAE

Is one of the largest wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Modi group. It reported a revenue of Rs 3,099.43 crore for the year ended March 2016. Profit before tax stood at Rs 216.59 crore and profit after tax at Rs 216.59 crore.

Valuation & fund-raising

In May last year, the board of Firestar International approved raising $75 million or Rs 495 crore from overseas entities. It sold its shares at Rs 510.22 apiece, valuing the company at Rs 6,908 crore post the placement.

Shareholding

Promoters, including Modi, held 90.17 percent while private corporate bodies owned 9.83 percent post the fund-raising.

Financials

Firestar International would end the year through March with a profit before tax of Rs 808 crore and profit after tax of Rs 686.23 crore, according to the private placement prospectus. Merchant bankers to the issue, Corporate Professionals Capital Private Ltd., said the enterprise value of the company was Rs 9,077.80 crore pre-issue. The projections also pegged the profit after tax for the company in 2022 at Rs 1,467.32 crore.

The company had a debt of Rs 3,186.15 crore and cash of Rs 951.88 crore at the end of March 2017.

Directors

Here’s a list of directors on the board of Firestar International, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies as of December.

• Nirav Deepak Modi
• Haresh Vrajlal Shah
• Angelina Nguyen
• Suresh Chandra Senapaty
• Gautam Mukkavilli
• Sanjay Rishi

This article was originally published in BloombergQuint
Featured image source: Flickr