Talks with equity major NSR to raise money bear no fruit.
BPL Ltd, a former consumer electronics major and now a publicly held Bangalore-based healthcare equipment maker, has lost an attempt to salvage part of its 350-acre land bank pledged with Deutsche Bank in India. BPL, founded by
T P G Nambiar, failed in talks to raise money from New Silk Route (NSR), the $1.2-billion private equity major.
“With markets being in such a volatile situation, NSR and BPL could not arrive at a mutually agreeable decision and the talks were called off,” an investment banker close to New Silk Route (NSR) told Business Standard. The NSR management did not respond to queries, and BPL could not be reached.
BPL, once a success story of India’s consumer electronics industry, got into debt as it focused on backward integration even as Korean majors started their onslaught in the Indian market. BPL's sales fell and it withdrew its range of consumer electronics products from the market. The company pledged its land bank to various financial institutions, which was later consolidated with Deutsche Bank.
BPL has been involved in protracted negotiations to settle the Rs 380 crore debt on its books. Deutsche Bank, after waiting for nearly two years, took BPL's vast land bank under its possession through the Securitisation Act and has been selling.
Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank sold 300 acres at close to Rs 160 crore. A senior investment banker who is close to Deutsche Bank told Business Standard that with the markets being volatile, It Bank may have to wait to dispose the rest of the land.
BPL had opened discussions with NSR to help it get back 50 acres. During the debt restructuring exercise, BPL tried to revive its television business by forming a joint venture with Sanyo, but the attempt failed.