Lenders had difference of opinions so far, says Hemant Kanoria. The debt restructuring, likely to involve haircut as well as conversion into equity, needs to be approved by the court after being approved by the three different classes of stakeholders.
With a hunt for a buyer for Deccan Chronicle remaining elusive, its new owner, Kolkata-based Srei Infrastructure Finance, has initiated a court supervised restructuring of the debt of the troubled media house.
A comprehensive scheme of "compromise and arrangement" between Deccan Chronicle Holdings, its creditors and equity shareholders is likely to be finalised next month for which separate meetings of secured, unsecured and members of the company have been convened on March 19.
The meeting has been called by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after Srei promoters, the Kanorias, approached it to thrash out a final settlement, Hemant Kanoria, chairman and MD of Srei Infra told dna.
"We are trying to bring everyone together so that we can all realise our money, which is stuck for long. My team has put in great effort towards this. It would be in the interest of everyone to come together. We have to ensure how the money can be recovered without closing down the business. Otherwise, the valuation would be dead," Kanoria said.
The debt restructuring, likely to involve haircut as well as conversion into equity, needs to be approved by the court after being approved by the three different classes of stakeholders.
That, however, is easier said than done as the recovery of Deccan Chronicle's dues is mired in stakeholders' working in cross purposes, with most of them having already approached the courts and debt recovery tribunals separately.
Bringing them all under one roof during the meeting would be a tough call for Srei.
"There has been differences of opinions among the creditors and that's why nobody could realise the money. That's exactly why my team is trying to bring in everyone together," he said.
In fact, status of Srei as the single largest shareholder of Deccan Chronicle has been disputed by ICICI Bank.
While Srei had an exposure of about Rs 220 crore, ICICI Bank is Deccan's biggest lender with an exposure of about Rs 490 crore, followed by Axis Bank, Canara Bank and Andhra Bank.
After being allotted 66 million shares in Deccan Chronicle in January, Srei emerged as the largest stakeholder with 24% stake.
ICICI Bank, however, has disputed this share allotment, which, it claimed, was in breach of an interim stay order of City Civil Court of Secunderabad.
Shortly following that allotment to Srei, ICICI Bank claimed it owns 24.9% stake in Deccan following subscription of 32 million shares.
Even other creditors, big and small, like IFCI, Future Group, Concast group of Kolkata or PVP Capital of Tamil Nadu have all made independent moves to recover their with some even trying to stop the other from selling assets.
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