Mascon Global became Secure Earth

The story of Mascon Global starts with K Chandra's father V Krishnamurthy and his company Mascon Technical Services Ltd. The whole sordid tale is given in this Indian Express article.

MGL then purchased the IT assets of Mascon Technical Services Ltd, for Rs 2.4 crore. We learn from a court document that Mascon Technical Services changed its name to BT System & Services with address at Padma Complex, 4th Floor, 320, Anna Salai, Chennai. Its authorized share capital was Rs 12 crore and its paid up capital was Rs 6.4 crore (where did all this money come from?). Directors were Janakiraman Ramamurthy, Kothandaraman Srinivasan, Anandappa Krishnan and Narendra Puppala (CPO in Mascon Global) and balance sheet was last filed on 31 March 2011.

By 2012, Mascon Global ltd was suspended from the Bombay Stock Exchange, but most of the company subsidiaries had been hived off and the remainder transferred to BT System & Services (BTSS). In this new avatar, BTSS (Mascon Global) tried the old trick of acquiring another listed company. In 2012, Globsyn Infotech underwent a merger/acquisition with BTSS by a share swap and the name of the new company was changed to Secure Earth Technologies.

Hari Chandra, son of K Chandra, who was VP Corporate and M&A in Mascon Global Ltd from 2009, became director of Secure Earth. Other personnel from Mascon Global/BTSS came in through the back door like R. Gowri Shankar and Maya Chandra. Secure Earth Technologies is focused on providing IT solutions in the Banking and Financial Services domain. Secure Earth Technologies was suspended from trading on the BSE from December 2014. Financial results for Dec 2014 declared in March 2015, showed zero income and a loss of 67 lakh.

In its 2013 annual report Secure Earth showed the following list of subsidiaries

1. Synergy Information Technology, USA
2. Synergy Log-in Systems Sdn Bhd, Malaysia
3. Globsyn Technologies Inc, USA
4. Ivision India
5. Sigma Soft pvt ltd, Singapore
6. BT System and Service Limited

Further it states that BT System and Service has its own subsidiaries: Gee Softech India pvt ltd (see image below) and Real Time Tech Solutions pvt ltd (RTTS). Of these RTTS showed a revenue of 6 crore in 2013. An investment company Genius Finvest, had the same directors as BTSS (Mascon Global) and was allotted 1 crore shares of Secure Earth Technologies in the year 2013 probably as part of the share swap deal.

This possession notice from the State Bank of India in the year 2011 lists Gee Softech as an owner of a Mascon Global property, which proves that all these new companies are actually Mascon Global subsidiaries. This possession notice and subsequent auction, for the recovery of 131 crores, was not successful as that debt still stands and can only be recovered when Mascon Global creditors become shareholders. The B 8/10 Vasant Vihar plot in the name of K Chandra, includes a building that housed Mascon Global's corporate office, the subsidiary Mascon Life Sciences office, and now house newly formed companies by K Chandra to escape the claims of creditors.

According to data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the old BTTS was reincorporated as Secure Earth Expert Domain Solutions pvt ltd at Jeypore Terrace II Floor, 219 Lloyds Road, Chennai. Another company at the same building, and with the same directors, is Madras Finvest Private Limited. Madras Finvest was involved in a Mascon Global property sale case in the Delhi High Court. Another company at the same address, and same directors, is Synerfin Factors Private Limited. Real Time Tech Solutions pvt ltd (RTTS) also has a branch running at this same address!

RTTS as a Mascon Global group company

This blog post by an RTTS employee from 2009, describes the company as a sister concern of Mascon Global Ltd. RTTS is into embedded computing for the defence and aerospace sectors, which makes it a very valuable subsidiary.

This Elance profile states very plainly: "Established in 1998, RTTS India (Mascon Global group) has set a precedent of delivering end-to-end system integration and software solutions for real-time environments in the defense sector." A Silicon India profile shows Anugrah Shukla working presently as the RM/AGM at RTTS-Mascon Global Ltd, Delhi/NCR.

To summarize, most assets of Mascon Global Ltd were surreptitiously transferred to BT System and Service, which was used to takeover Globsyn Infotech and rename it Secure Earth Technologies. Parts of BTSS/MGL also became other companies with the Secure Earth name. Simultaneously BTSS is also a subsidiary of Secure Earth Technologies, and has subsidiaries of its own, which occupy MGL properties!

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs also has data on financial charges on these companies. RTTS has charges of 27 crore by State Bank of India (Specialised Commercial Branch, Krishi Bhavan, Hudson Circle, Bangalore) from 2011. Gee Softech has charges of Rs 130,40,00,000 by JM Financial asset reconstruction company, 7th Floor, Cnergy, Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai, and the date of charge is 26/3/2014. This exact same amount of 130.4 crores is shown as a charge against Mascon Global Limited, with the exact same company JM Financial asset reconstruction, on the exact same date. Proves beyond doubt that Gee Softech is a MGL subsidiary.

All these companies and directors are linked to each other and to Mascon Global Limited. Secure Earth looks to be a favorite name for this family, because the old corporate office of Mascon Global, and its subsidiary: Mascon Life Sciences, is now occupied by Secure Earth Health And Life Technologies Limited and Secure Earth Advanced Systems Private Limited. Both have the same directors as Mascon Global and Mascon Life Sciences.

Sandy Chandra talks about Secure Earth

In 2012, Sandy Chandra gave a lecture at IIT Madras, entitled "Confessions of a Serial Dreamer". He described his career with Lummus Crest, ABB Lummus, turning around bankrupt companies UCAL Fuel, India Meters, and Cauvery Sugars. He talked about getting into the IT services industry but refused to even mention Mascon Global Ltd!

Sandy Chandra went on to talk about Secure Earth:

“Secure Earth” is the brand under which we are building all our ventures. The ventures are built around an incredible team of technologists and domain specialists. Each team member has a stake in the business. We will grow the business from the current $200 mm at over 40% CAGR for a foreseeable future.

I am personally focused on building a health care practice that allows capturing every medical data under a single UID which will allow public health, practitioners and hospitals to provide more efficient care.

It should be clear now that all the assets, personnel, offices, and equipment of Mascon Global have been surreptitiously transferred to the Secure Earth group of companies. The listed entity Secure Earth Technologies has charges of 2 crore by Peerless Central Financial and Investment company, Calcutta, 50 lakh by Bank of Madura, Chennai, 3 crore by Citi Bank, Mumbai, and 2 crore by Federal Bank, Mumbai.

The 31st Annual Report by Secure Earth Technologies, dated 29th August 2015, for the first time admits to the relationship with Mascon Global ltd. It shows borrowings and advance received from Mascon Global Ltd of 38.98 crore. The report also mentions Secure Earth Health & Life Tech Limited.

In the Secure Earth Technologies AGM on 30 September it was resolved to shift the Registered office from Mumbai to the same LLoyds Road address in Chennai where the other shell companies of Sandy Chandra are based.