IL&FS sells entire stake in Warora Chandrapur Highway; resolves Rs 324 cr of debt

Debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) on Friday said it has completed sale of its 35 per cent stake in Warora Chandrapur Ballarpur Toll Road Ltd (WCBTRL) to its majority joint venture partner Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd (VIL).

The sale entails VIL taking over entire external debt of WCBTRL amounting to Rs 306 crore, providing equity value of over Rs 12 crore and settling IL&FS Group dues amounting to Rs 6 crore.

This will result into resolving Rs 324 crore from the overall IL&FS Group’s debt of approximately Rs 99,000 crore, as of October 2018, a release said.

The key lenders to the project – Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) – have all approved the sale and change in ownership, the release said.

As part of the resolution, the IL&FS Board had earlier followed a public process to sell the group’s minority stake in WCBTRL but it received no interest from buyers.

Thereafter, the majority partner VIL evinced interest in purchasing the stake.

After receiving fair market and liquidation values from two independent valuers, the Uday Kotak-led board of the group took the decision to sell the stake to the majority partner.

The company was promoted by IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd (ITNL), an IL&FS subsidiary, with 35 per cent stake while the balance 65 per cent is held between VIL and its associate company Diva Media Private Ltd.

WCBTRL built a four-lane highway project connecting Warora, Chandrapur and Ballarpur traversing along three different highways of SH-264, SH-266 and SH-267 in Maharashtra.

It has been built under Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (Toll) model. The 64-km project, developed at a cost of Rs 689 crore, has a concession validity till January 2041 granted by the Public Works Department, Maharashtra government.