Bankers unhappy with Mallya’s ` 4,000-cr deal
MUMBAI: Embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s proposed ‘sweetener’ deal of `4,000 crore has not gone down well with bankers.
Mallya offered on Wednesday to repay more than half of the `7,000 crore his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) owes creditors. Mallya’s lawyers told the Supreme Court he is ready to pay by September `4,000 crore of the `6,903 crore taken as loans by KFA. However, together with interest and other dues, the loan amount comes to around `9,000 crore.
The court has asked banks to respond within a week to Mallya’s proposal.
“He (Mallya) has just said it but there is no concrete plan on how will we see the actual money,” said a public sector bank official.
“To consider the settlement offer, there are certain guidelines on one-time settlement that have been laid out and we need to follow the due procedure,” a senior SBI executive said. “There are rules that we have to follow with regard to the principal loan amount, interest, value of the property, value of the assets, securities, discounted value of cash flows, etc... which is a complex calculation that needs to be done. Only then we can come to a conclusion.”
“It has just been proposed yet... Let us see what the offering has to say. We are dealing with public money so we cannot just settle or take a haircut.It’s too primitive to say anything currently, ” another senior public sector bank executive said.
A former SBI official who was involved in dealing with the KFA loan account said Mallya’s offer “will not be acceptable because banks will have to write-off about `3,000 crore plus some interest.”
“Out of the `4,000 crore that he is offering, about half of it is already with the courts. About `600 crore in the form of properties is lying with the courts and another `1,300-1,400 crore worth of shares are attached, which is very liquid. I doubt banks will accept it,” he added.
Lenders can also attach Mallya’s personal assets since he has given a personal guarantee on the loans. However, since a large number of assets are abroad, it would be difficult to attach them, bankers said.
“Going by the reports, if you take `7,000 crore as loan dues and what has been recovered, it needs to be seen how much the banks are willing to write-off,” said an executive of a company, which specialises in restructuring and turnaround of stressed firms.