IL&FS board upgrades estimates of debt addressed to over Rs 57,000 crore

The new board of IL&FS Ltd on Monday shared an update on the progress of ongoing resolution process across the group and revised its estimates of debt being addressed to well above 50 per cent of the overall debt of over Rs 99,000 crore.

The aggregate value of the debt being addressed is now estimated as over Rs 57,000 crore -- with around Rs 50,500 crore likely to be addressed by March 2021.

"The revised value accounts for over 57 per cent of overall debt and is significantly higher than the average realisation till date for financial creditors under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process," IL&FS said in a statement.

The new board, appointed by the Central government led by Uday Kotak as Non-Executive Chairman, Vineet Nayyar as Vice Chairman, C S Rajan as Managing Director and Bijay Kumar as Deputy Managing Director along with other officials highlighted the key initiatives taken, progress made till June 30 and revised timelines to complete the resolution process for the IL&FS Group.

IL&FS has addressed debt of Rs 17,640 crore from a combination of completed asset sales, debt repayment to green entities, debt discharged in non-green entities and available cash balance across the group.

The new board also shared a quarterly plan that estimates addressing additional debt of Rs 8,800 crore by Q2 FY21, Rs 18,000 crore by Q3 FY21 and over Rs 6,000 crore by the end of Q4 FY21 -- aggregating to Rs 50,500 crore by end of FY21.

"Efforts towards resolution of additional debt of Rs 6,600 crore are likely to continue beyond FY21 as the new board expects the resolution of major holding compes to take a longer time," said IL&FS.

The new board of IL&FS has developed a unique 'group resolution framework' that received approval from the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on March 12. The framework can form a benchmark for future group insolvencies in the country.

The IL&FS new board has been following a three-pronged strategy -- Resolve, Restructure and Recover -- while adopting an approach of equitable distribution and balancing interests of stakeholders across the IL&FS Group under IBC and corporate finance principles to resolve over Rs 99,000 crore funded and non-funded debt of the group.

As part of the resolution efforts, IL&FS also proposes to set up one of the country's largest infrastructure investment trusts with a target gross value of Rs 13,000 crore, which includes three special purpose vehicles where the debt of Rs 5,000 crore has been restructured.

"The group is in an advanced stage of concluding the sale process of 15 entities with a resolution of nearly Rs 8,500 crore and plans restructuring additional debt of Rs 4,900 crore," said IL&FS.

The new board has met 42 times since October 2018 to ensure governance and vigorous oversight of the resolution process. The total number of entities have been reduced from 347 to 276, which is expected to further reduce to around 60 entities by March 2021.

"The new board has taken multiple steps and ensured the preservation of key national road and power assets," said IL&FS.

( With inputs from ANI )