Yes Bank taking over Anil Ambani’s Reliance headquarters for recovery against Rs 2,892 crore loan
Yes Bank has issued a notice of possession for Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group headquarters at Santacruz and two other offices in south Mumbai. In its notice, the bank said it was effecting recovery against Rs 2,892 crore loan to reliance infrastructure.The bank’s action includes taking over two floors of office space in Nagin Mahal at Backbay under a law that allows it to sell assets of defaulters.
The private sector lender has also taken possession of two flats in South Mumbai for the non-payment of dues by Reliance Infrastructure, according to a notice published by Yes Bank in a newspaper on Wednesday.
Nearly all the major companies in Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) were operating out of the Santacruz office called ‘Reliance Centre’. However, in the last few years, the fortunes of the group have gone south with the companies meeting various fates, including bankruptcies and stake sales.
Yes Bank said it had sought to recover dues of Rs 2,892.44 crore from Reliance Infrastructure on May 6 and took possession of the three properties on July 22 after a failure to repay even after 60 days of the notice.
It cautioned the general public not to deal with the properties, adding that any dealing with the properties will be subject to a charge of Yes Bank for an amount of Rs 2,892 crore.
Last year, the group was looking to lease out the same headquarters — which measures 21,432 square metres as per the Yes Bank notice — in an attempt to raise resources to pay off debts. Before the bail-out, the government and the RBI superseded the Yes Bank board in March and installed a new chief executive and board.
On June 23, Anil Ambani had claimed that R-Infra, which has loans outstanding of Rs 6,000 crore, will be completely debt-free this fiscal year.
In 2018, the company sold its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission for nearly Rs 18,800 crore, which helped reduce the debt to nearly Rs 7,500 crore.