No formal communication from banks on recoveries: Kingfisher

With banks planning to monetise Kingfisher Airlines' securities to recover a debt of about Rs 7,000 crore, the grounded carrier today said it was continuing discussions with its lenders and had not received any formal communication from them on the matter. "We have received no formal communication from the banks till date. We are in continuing discussions with them on ways to bring down their exposure, inter alia, from the proceeds of the Diageo transaction," a Kingfisher spokesperson said in a statement. "The banks explicitly support the transaction with Diageo and would work with us in finding an orderly method of disposal of some of the pledged shares to Diageo if appropriate," he said. The statement came a day after Kingfisher lenders expressed hope of recovering up to Rs 1,000 crore of their dues by monetising the securities in the March quarter itself. "That (selling the securities given as collaterals) is the plan," Shyamal Acharya, SBI Deputy Managing Director (Mid-Corporates Accounts), said in Mumbai yesterday. The consortium of 17 banks, led by SBI, has an outstanding of over Rs 7,000 crore from the airline. It has shares of listed entities like United Spirits as collaterals which should realise Rs 500 crore, apart from the brand Kingfisher as a security. Additionally, the consortium has residual rights over the securities held by Srei Infrastructure Finance, which comes to Rs 500 crore. Srei bought this from ICICI Bank in April last year. (more)