The 17-bank consortium that had funded the grounded Kingfisher Airlines Ltd will meet at Mumbai on January 18. Bankers are expected to take a final call on initiating recovery proceedings against the beleaguered private airline, which has a liability of close to Rs 7,500 crore. The airlne’s licence to fly had expired on December 31. This may, however, be renewed until December 2014.
The promoter, UB Group, had pledged various assets including the Kingfisher Airlines brand, a villa in Goa and Kingfisher house in Mumbai as collateral for securing the loans. It is not clear whether the banks would be able to recover the entire exposure given that the airline is
grounded and the brand may not hold the same value.
Meanwhile, a core group of six banks met at Bangalore on Friday to discuss the viability of a restart plan presented by the airline. They were however not enthused by the proposed plan as it did not have any firm commitment from the promoters on fund infusion in the airline, it is learnt.