IL and FS sells stake in WCBTRL, resolves Rs 324 crore group debt

IL&FS Group on Friday said it has completed the sale of its 35 per cent stake in Warora Chandrapur Ballarpur Toll Road Limited (WCBTRL).

Accordingly, the stake was sold to IL&FS’ majority joint venture partner Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited (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 cr - thereby resolving Rs 324 cr from the overall IL&FS Group debt of approx. Rs 99,000 crore, as of October 2018,” 

“The Group had already received requisite approvals from the ITNL CoC, Supreme Court Justice (retd) DK Jain and Hon’ble NCLT to complete the transaction.”

As per the statement, 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.

“As part of the resolution, the new 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.” 

“The new Board, after receiving fair market and liquidation values from two independent valuers, took the decision to sell the stake to the majority partner.” 

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

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