Kingfisher asset seized

Mumbai, Feb. 24: Clamping down on Vijay Mallya’s UB Group to recover loans, a 17-bank consortium led by state-run SBI today took possession of Kingfisher House, estimated to be worth Rs 100 crore.

The banks have taken possession of the over 17,000-sq-foot property at Vile Parle, near the domestic airport here, as part of their efforts to recover a loan of Rs 6,800 crore to Kingfisher Airlines.

Later, the airline said in a statement that it had handed over the possession of Kingfisher House to SBICAP Trustee, a security trustee for the consortium of Kingfisher lenders.

When contacted, a senior SBI official confirmed the development.

A chief metropolitan magistrate had earlier allowed the banks to take over the asset as part of a loan recovery process, which the banks had started way back in February 2013 after the airline stopped servicing its debt.

Kingfisher House is one of the prime real estates of the airline, which was once touted as the most luxurious carrier in the country.

The airline was grounded in October 2012 and its flying permit cancelled two months later in December.

The other collateral left with the banks is Kingfisher Villa in Goa, which has a market value of under Rs 90 crore.

When asked about the status of the claim placed by the income tax and service tax departments on the same property, Parveen Kumar Malhotra, SBI’s deputy managing director & group executive for stressed assets management, said the banks have to discuss with the tax authorities and a decision would be taken only after that.

In December 2013, the I-T department had moved a Bangalore court to direct banks to first settle its dues of Rs 350 crore before they took the possession of Kingfisher House. They claimed that the property was attached by the department under the I-T Act.

Kingfisher owes around Rs 350 crore to the I-T department while the arrears to the service tax department amounts to Rs 100 crore.

via NorthEast Calling http://ift.tt/1DSYvJR