NEW DELHI: Crisis-ridden United Spirits Ltd (USL) on Monday said it had received shareholders’ approval to issue a guarantee to a bank for loan of up to Rs 100 crore to be availed of by its subsidiary Pioneer Distillers.

In a filing to the NSE, United Spirits said the resolution for consent approval of the shareholders was passed with a majority. As many as 99.5 per cent of votes polled were in favour of the resolution, the company said.

Last month, Diageo-owned United Spirits sought approval from its shareholders to report sick to BIFR as its accumulated losses as on March 31 touched 86 per cent of peak net worth during the past four fiscal years. As per the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (SICA), if the accumulated losses of a company at the end of any financial year have resulted in erosion of 50 per cent or more of its peak net worth during the preceding four financial years, such firm is required to report to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). In a notice to the shareholders for an EGM on January 22, United Spirits said, as per the audited annual accounts for the fiscal ended March 31, “the accumulated losses of the company as at March 31, 2015, is 86 per cent of its peak net worth during the four financial years preceding the financial year ended March 31, 2015”. The company said its accumulated losses as on March 31, at Rs 5,045.45 crore is greater than 50 per cent of the peak net worth in the immediately preceding four financial years at Rs 5,849.62 crore. — PTI