Banks to again auction Kingfisher Villa on Thursday

After failing for the third time to find a buyer for the Kingfisher House in the city earlier this week, the lenders are reauctioning troubled businessman Vijay Mallya's another plush property, the Kingfisher Villa on the Goan coast tomorrow.

In the second auction of the property situated at Condolim, North Goa, the 17-member lenders consortium led by SBI, has set the reserve price at Rs 81 crore, which is 5 per cent lower than the first auction held in October.

In the October auction, the lenders had tried to sell the sea-facing property at Rs 85.29 crore but no one came forward. The Villa was once used by Mallya to host lavish parties during his good times.

In the Monday's action of the Kingfisher House, the erstwhile headquarters of the defunct airline, the lenders could not get any buyer despite a 15 per cent cut in reserve price.

The prime property has a built-up area of over 17,000 sq ft and is located in the plush Vile Parle area near the domestic terminal.

The lenders had put on auction Kingfisher House on Monday with a reserve price of Rs 115 crore, which was 15 per cent less than the second auction of the property held in August and 23 per cent lower than the first auction in March.

In the second auction in August, the reserve price for Kingfisher House was kept at Rs 135 crore, 10 per cent lower than the first auction of the asset in March when the reserve price was fixed at Rs 150 crore. Both the auctions failed as bidders found the reserve price too high.

The Service Tax Department, too, has failed twice to get any bidders for a luxury jet, owned by Mallya, which is in its possession. Yesterday, the Bombay High Court asked the department to get the luxury jet, parked at the domestic ariport, revalued so that it could find a buyer.

While Mallya owes around Rs 550 crore to the department, the luxury jet was originally valued at over Rs 150 crore.

The beleaguered businessman owes over Rs 9,000 crore to lenders like SBI, PNB, IDBI Bank, BoB, Allahabad Bank, Federal Bank and Axis Bank, among others. He left the country on March 3 this year and is currently said to be in Britain.