The 17-lender consortium led by State Bank of India (SBI) has started selling the shares of United Spirits Ltd in the open market as a first step towards recovering Rs7,000 crore from cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines, two bankers familiar with the matter told DNA.
The consortium started recovering dues after liqour baron Vijay Mallya repeatedly failed to get fresh capital from investors and has also been unable to restart the grounded airline.
“We are focussing on selling the pledged shares as fast as possible. Some share sale has started,” said Shyamal Acharya, deputy managing director of the State Bank of India. “The loan-recall notice will go to Kingfisher in a day or two.”
The notice was earlier expected to be sent latest by March-end but the consortium plans to first sell the pledged 2% of United Spirits shares, which are currently worth about Rs500 crore.
Another banker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the consortium began the share sale last week.
02/04/13 Megha Mandavia/Daily News & Analysis
