Even as Vijay Mallya, former chairman of United Spirits, has struck a $75-million deal with Diageo to walk free from all charges against him, a consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI) is trying to hasten the process of debt recovery against Mallya’s now-grounded Kingfisher Airlines (KFA).
The consortium on Friday filed an application before thes(DRT) at Bengaluru for advancement of hearing in the case pertaining to recovery of dues in excess of Rs 7,000 crore from the airline.
The DRT accepted the request from the consortium and advanced the hearing to Monday, said sources. “An application for advancement of hearing in the case regarding recovery of dues worth `7,000 crore owed by KFA to banks was filed on Friday in the DRT. The case will come up for hearing on February 29,” sources told FE.
In 2013, the consortium of lenders had moved the DRT in Bengaluru to recover dues from the airline.
KFA, which has not flown since 2012, owes dues of over Rs 7,000 crore to a consortium of 17 bankers led by SBI, which has been trying to recover the dues by selling securities pledged by the firm. These include real estate and shares in multiple group entities.
Earlier this month, SBICAP Trustee, a wholly-owned subsidiary of investment bank SBI Capital Markets, initiated the process for selling Kingfisher House, the headquarters of KFA.
Kingfisher House is among the assets pledged by the company to the consortium of banks. The online auction will be held on March 17.
SBI Cap has said the borrower is Kingfisher Airlines and guarantors are United Breweries (Holdings) and Mallya himself.
In 2013, the income tax department had also moved a Bengaluru court, asking lenders to first settle the dues of the department amounting to Rs 350 crore as the property was attached under the IT Act.