Auctioning Kingfisher House next week

by FP Staff Dec 13, 2013

Lenders to debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines will take a call on auctioning the company’s headquarters, Kingfisher House, in Mumbai, next week.

The 14 banks, led by State Bank of India (SBI), which lent Rs 6,500 crore to the airline, have valued the property at little over Rs 90 crore.

On Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court rejected Kingfisher Airlines' plea to restrain bankers from taking over the Kingfisher House in Mumbai.

State Bank of India had initiated the procedure for taking over the Mumbai-based property earlier this year under the Sarfeasi Act. However, the United Breweries (UB) Group had sought intervention by the Karnataka High Court, questioning the consortium's move to take over Kingfisher properties, while filing a winding up petition against the company at the same time.

Meanwhile, last month, a Goa court directed the consortium to maintain status quo on an injunction on the Kingfisher villa in Goa after they made an attempt to take possession of the property. Bankers toldCNBC-TV18 that no further progress has been made in the case of the Goa property.

Kingfisher Airlines has been grounded for more than 15 months and Mallya had stated in September that the airlines was in talks with a foreign investor for potential stake sale but refused to divulge the investor's name.

Lenders have already  sold hundreds of crores worth of pledged shares of UB Group companies to recover their borrowings but are yet to recover nearly Rs 6203 crore from the airline, CNBC-TV18 reported.

Banks have also filed petitions to wind up UBHL and moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against Kingfisher. Last month the Karnataka high court admitted a winding-up petition filed by BNP Paribas against UBHL.