SINGAPORE, May 26: Negotiations have been on for a few weeks now between ITC Ltd. and the judicial management of ITC Global Holdings to arrive at a settlement to wind up the Singapore subsidiary.

The parent company is believed to have already made an offer to the judicial managers, despite its protestations on Tuesday, that its board did not accept any legal liability for the losses incurred by its Singapore trading outfit.

According to sources, the judicial managers are waiting for an improved offer, under pressure from creditors, including 11 banks, to whom ITC Global owes about $ 43 million. The company's liabilities amount to $ 49.8 million, in debts and stocks. The company's current managing director, Shriram Khattar, was not available for comment.

Although no one will disclose what the magical figure is for a settlement to be sewn up, it is apparent that the judicial management will need to rake in around $ 28-32 million, if the creditors are not lose out substantially.

Even the optimal offer being negotiated by the judicial managers would be an optimistic projection, as it does not take into consideration the eventuality of low recovery of its stocks running into $ 7 million -- and receivables.

Unless a settlement is reached, the judicial managers will not be able to pay back all the creditors a prerequisite to the liquidation of the company. ITC seems to be holding out against shelling out such a large sum, but some hard bargaining appears to be under way.

The beleaguered 100 % owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd. is currently under the judicial management of three partners of KPMG peat Marwick, appointed through a court directive last year.

While announcing the group's financial performance in Calcutta last week, ITC had said that despite not accepting any legal liability for the creditors' claims, and ``without prejudice to the legal rights of the company, these are being looked into by the management.''

It added that the eventual outcome would be ``subject to the approval of RB I.''

The company told the board that ``as a measure of prudence an amount of Rs 34.99 crore has already been provided for.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.