Lenders working to revive Subhiksha: MD

Cash-strapped retail player Subhiksha has said that almost all its lenders and shareholders are working together to revive the company and it is on its way to completing the ongoing corporate debt restructuring (CDR) programme on schedule by the end of July.     

"Twelve of the 13 bank lenders together with the three major shareholders are thrashing out the contours of the debt restructuring as well as the funds infusion into the company to revive operations. The contours of the revival plan of the company have been agreed (upon)," Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd MD R Subramanian said in a statement.     

"The deadline for closure of CDR is July 31, 2009, and the company is confident that the process will be completed well before that date," he added.     

Subramanian said that only one of its lenders — Kotak Mahindra Bank — has taken the legal route and filed a winding-up petition at the Madras High Court against the retail chain.     

"... All the other 12 banks, including the six banks that are part of the CDR and the other six which are not part of CDR, have all been working together on the revival package," he added.     

Regarding the company's plans for securing liquidity, Subramanian said various stakeholders of Subhiksha have agreed that the process will be equity financed.

Subramanian termed false the reports about the Registrar of Companies inspecting Subhiksha's account books.     

Subhiksha has been undergoing corporate debt restructuring since February this year to make the company eligible to raise money for re-starting business.     

The retail chain's 1,600 outlets have been closed down since the beginning of the year due to a severe liquidity crunch, and the company had earlier said it requires at least Rs 300 crore to revive the business.