Toll Road Creditors agrees Rs 2.70 billion for settlement

04 Jun 2024 CW Team

After no rival proposal was received for the government-backed bad bank's offer in April, the six creditors of Essel Infraprojects' Ludhiana-Talwandi Toll Road (LTTRPL) have approved NARCL's Rs 2.70 billion offer to repay the company's Rs 9.8 billion debt. The purchase, which is probably going to be NARCL's first acquisition of the fiscal year, is now being finalised by lenders through the creation of an assignment agreement. As usual, NARCL's offer is based on a 15:85 structure, with cash accounting for 15% of the consideration and security receipts (assured by the government) to be paid upon recovery. An email asking for comments was not answered by NARCL.

Since no transaction has been completed in April or May thus far this fiscal year, it is quite likely that this one will be the first to be finished. The concession deal, signed by NHAI in March 2012, was for the construction of a 78-kilometer, four-lane section of the National Highway-95 between Ludhiana and Talwandi Bhai in Punjab by September 2014. The agreement was valid for 29 years. However, the loan became non-performing due to project delays.

With a debt of Rs 2.64 billion outstanding, PNB is the primary lender. The Central Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, and IIFCL are further lenders. At the end of 2018, NARCL has eighteen stressed accounts totaling Rs 925 billion in debt. It is estimated that another 24 accounts aggregating Rs 760 billion are in the pipeline to be acquired in the current fiscal year.

However, progress has been slow since this is the first time such a government-backed bad bank has started operations in India.

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