Lenders put Kingfisher brands on the block to recover dues

Lenders to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), the Vijay Mallya-promoted defunct private carrier, have put the company's trademarks and brands on auction to recover dues estimated at about Rs 6,963 crore in February 2014.

The trademarks/brands on the block include Fly Kingfisher, Flying Models, Funliner, Fly the Good Times, Kingfisher and Flying Bird Device.

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The reserve price has been fixed at Rs 366.70 crore, according to a notice issued by SBICAPS Trustees Limited. This entity is working on behalf of lenders to KFA. The auction is slated for April 30.

In its annual report for 2012-13, KFA said at its peak it was the largest airline in India, with a five-star rating from Skytrax. A brand valuation by Grant Thornton put its value at $550 million on resumption of operations. The airline's brand had been registered separately from the Kingfisher beer trademark.

Early this month, efforts of lenders, headed by State Bank of India, to auction Kingfisher House, KFA's headquarters in Mumbai, failed in absence of even a single bid.

The base price for the property was set at Rs 150 crore. The steep reserve price and limited scope for development kept prospective bidders away from the auction, real estate experts said.

In a stern warning to wilful defaulters like Vijay Mallya, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said they should settle their dues honourably with the banks or else be ready to face "coercive action" by lenders and investigative agencies.

"I don't want to make any comments on individual cases but I think it's a responsibility of large groups like his (Vijay Mallya's) to honourably settle their dues with the banks," he told PTI in an interview in New Delhi.