Lenders ask Kingfisher to cough up Rs1,000 crore for loan recast

Creditors of grounded Kingfisher Airlines has asked the company to bring in a minimum of Rs800 to Rs1,000 by way of equity to enable the banks restructure its outstanding loans of Rs1,600 crore, which is over and above the limit set aside for the airline.

These include loans or bank guarantees extended to the airline over a period of time. Banks now want at least half of this overdue amount to be returned to the banks.

Kingfisher Airlines has accumulated debt of Rs7,400 crore and the lender banks now own about 24 per cent stake in the airline.

Its total long-term borrowing stood at Rs5,695 crore as of 31 March 2012 while its short-term borrowings rose to Rs2,335 crore at the end of 2011-12.

SBI caps has been appointed to work a repayment schedule and a restructuring plan to revive the airline.

''We have asked the airline to first put some equity on the table before we can start guaranteeing any more letter of credit or the restructuring process. The airline needs about Rs625 crore to restart its operations but it does not cover any of the banker's dues so we have asked the company to come back with some concrete plans for infusing equity into the company,'' said a senior banker involved with the deliberations with the company.

Top officials of Kingfisher Airlines, including CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and CFO Ravi Nedungadi had met a core group of lenders led by State Bank of India in Mumbai.

Kingfisher had shut down its operations from October after DGCA cancelled its license for cancellation of flights and other operational handicaps.

The airline had reported a net loss of Rs2,328 crore in 2011-12 against Rs1,027 crore in the previous year.