Tag: Financial News

PNB scam case: Nirav Modi’s solar plant, Mumbai flat up for auction to recover dues, says report

Besides, the DRT-I plans to auction off two large land parcels belonging to Modi and his group company, Firestone Trading Pvt. Ltd. Both the land parcels are currently mortgaged with the Union Bank of India.

Nirav Modi was arrested in London in March 2019

The Mumbai-based Debt Recovery Tribunal-I has put up a solar power plant belonging to fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi on sale in an attempt to recover Rs 2,348 crore, which is just a small portion of the total fraud amount of Rs 8,526.20 crore. For the third time, Nirav Modi’s posh flat in the Pedder Road area of south Mumbai will also be auctioned off, IANS reported.

Modi’s solar power plant, which is located in Khandale village of Maharashtra, has a capacity of 5.247 MW. Along with the plant and machinery, the solar plant is valued at Rs 12.40 crore.

On the other hand, Modi’s Pedder Road flat is on the second floor of Grosvenor Building, and proposed to be auctioned off as a fully furnished residence along with two parking lots. Its collective value was estimated to be around Rs 11.70 crore.

The online auction shall be held on October 25 between 2-4 pm only, for all the listed assets, as per the DRT-I’s notification.

Besides, the DRT-I plans to auction off two large land parcels belonging to Modi and his group company, Firestone Trading Pvt. Ltd. Both the land parcels are currently mortgaged with the Union Bank of India, presumably in lieu of the loans it had extended to the diamantaire and his group companies.

Modi is wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering. He is accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank of over $2 billion, using fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs).

Modi was arrested in London in March 2019 and has been fighting extradition to India ever since. He has denied the charges against him.

In 2019, he was declared a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act and a list of his properties were ordered to be attached as part of the Act.

In December 2022, the UK Supreme Court rejected Modi’s final appeal against extradition. The court ruled that there were no bars to Modi’s extradition and that he should be sent to India to face trial.

Source: https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/pnb-scam-case-nirav-modis-solar-plant-mumbai-flat-up-for-auction-to-recover-dues-says-report-399734-2023-09-26

Byju’s considering sale of Great Learning and Epic to settle $1.2 billion term loan

The company has put two of its group firms — higher education platform Great Learning and kids-focused digital reading platform Epic – on sale to raise immediate funds to meet the repayment obligations towards the $1.2 billion of Term Loan B it availed from a consortium of US-based creditors, sources close to the development said.

The capital will go towards completely paying off the term loan

Troubled edtech major Byju’s is engaging with potential suitors to sell two of its key assets, even as it awaits the long elusive fresh equity funding to pay off debts.

The company has put two of its group firms — higher education platform Great Learning and kids-focused digital reading platform Epic – on sale to raise immediate funds to meet the repayment obligations towards the $1.2 billion of Term Loan B it availed from a consortium of US-based creditors, sources close to the development said.

“They have been exploring many options, but the most feasible one at this point looks like an asset sale. They hope to make around a billion dollars from these two firms,” said one of the people on condition of anonymity.

Byju’s acquired Great Learning for $600 million and Epic for $500 million in cash and equity deals in July 2021. These deals were part of a series of acquisitions the company made in 2021 as digital education grew exponentially due to Covid-related restrictions. During the hyper-growth years of 2020-2021, the Bengaluru-based company made approximately $3 billion worth of acquisitions.

Though it raised significant amount of capital during the time, the equity capital wasn’t enough to fund the extravagant acquisitions, especially as it continued to burns cash on operations. Byju’s then turned to large debt providers in the US to raise a massive term loan.

The TLB, secured for a five-year period at a yield to maturity (YTM) of 6.78 per cent in November 2021, came back to bite the company in June of this year when it missed a $40 million loan repayment. It subsequently filed a lawsuit against its lenders, countering their legal actions, accusing them of using predatory tactics.

As per people in the know of the development, lenders were renegotiating the rate to be around 10-11 percent. This would mean that the company has to set aside $100-120 million dollars from its cash flow each year to meet these new terms.

Source: https://www.businesstoday.in/entrepreneurship/start-up/story/byjus-considering-sale-of-great-learning-and-epic-to-settle-12-billion-term-loan-397948-2023-09-11

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