IL&FS board to soon put up to 10 subsidiaries on sale to meet payment dues

Following an "overwhelming response" to buy units of debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS), its state-appointed board will soon put on sale another 8 to 10 subsidiaries, an official said on Saturday.

"I understand that expressions of interest (EoIs) for another 8 to 10 companies will be shortly called," Company Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas said on the sidelines of a conference on insolvency and bankruptcy law hosted by industry body FICCI.

The infrastructure finance company, whose board was superseded by the government early last month after it defaulted on payment dues triggering liquidity concerns, had invited EoIs for two of its units last week in its attempt to turn around IL&FS.

The two subsidiary units put on sale are IL&FS Securities Services Ltd, a clearing member in equity and other derivatives, and ISSL Settlement and Transaction Services Ltd, which provides clearing services in commodities derivatives segment.

"Two weeks back, they (IL&FS) had called for expressions of interest for their securities firms -- commodity securities and equity. There has been an overwhelming response to that and I think almost all major banks and financial institutions have shown interest. We are hopeful that the board will be able to evaluate them and come up with a proposal," he said.

With plans to invite EoIs for another 10 group companies, Srinivas said IL&FS is expected to monetise its subsidiaries and meet its payment obligations.

"We are well in the process of trying to have sale of subsidiaries as going concerns and will ensure maximum possible realisation and then they will meet repayment obligations," he said.

On November 5, Srinivas had said the government, which submitted its report to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) outlining its plans for a turnaround, may go in for a combination of three options it had - sale of IL&FS as a group, separate sale of its verticals and sale of its assets.

IL&FS group had a debt of more than Rs 910 billion at the end of March 2018.