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Debt-laden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services has decided to begin monetisation of its assets and will restart the sale process of IL&FS Securities Services and ISSL Settlement and Transaction Services.
The decision was taken by the IL&FS board on Monday as part of measures to resolve troubles at the group and pay off its debt.
“In order to ascertain market interest and examine feasibility of maximisation of value in an orderly and transparent manner, the board, while continuing to evaluate all options, has today initiated the process of exploring the sale of an asset engaged in the securities services business,” IL&FS said in a statement.
Significantly, private sector lender IndusInd Bank was set to acquire IL&FS Securities Services and had signed a definitive share purchase agreement with IL&FS in June. However, sources said the new board approved by the NCLT and led by banker Uday Kotak has decided to cancel all past agreements undertaken by the earlier board of IL&FS.
“The money has not been transferred (by IndusInd Bank to complete the IL&FS Securities Services sale) and it has been decided that the sale process for ISSL will be re-started,” said a person close to the development.
Public solicitation
IL&FS, in a statement, said the board has decided to publicly solicit Expressions of Interest to assess the interest for sale of its stake in both subsidiary firms — ISSL and ISSL Settlement and Transaction Services.
Any transaction for sale of asset will be subject to the NCLT, said the release.
“The board is taking steps for public solicitation in this regard,” it added.
The board also said these measures would help advance the process of putting together resolution plan(s) for the IL&FS group, based on market interest and price discovery for various assets.
It has also appointed Arpwood Capital and JM Financial as Financial and Transaction Advisors, along with Alvarez and Marsal as Resolution Consultants.
In a report submitted last month to the NCLT, the board had said it would work towards the final resolution, in stages and parts, over the next six to nine months.
It had pegged the overdue amounts relating to financial debt within the IL&FS group at about ₹4,776 crore. The financial sector, including banks, had an exposure of about ₹ 91,000 crore to the IL&FS group as of March-end.
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