Banks to act tough with KFA

Mumbai (PTI): Banks will continue to sell pledged shares of Kingfisher airline and invoke all other securities till they get back the dues, SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said on Tuesday. State Bank of India is the leader of consortium of lenders to grounded airline Kingfisher. "We have given instructions to recover and enforce all the securities. Our intention is to sell everything. All means of recovery will be employed and nothing would escape. Till such time as we will get back our dues in full, we will press our full recourse on all the securities that we possess," he told reporters here. It may be noted that airline promoters had unsuccessfully asked the Bombay High Court to prevent the banks from selling pledged shares. When asked about the Rs 11,000-crore Diageo-USL deal-- which reportedly was the reason why the KFA management approached the court-- and if that will prevent banks from enforcing other actions, Chaudhuri replied in the negative. Kingfisher promoter Vijay Mallya had signed a deal with the UK's Diageo to sell his controlling stake in United Spirits Ltd (USL). Diageo will also pick up another 26 per cent through mandatory open offer. "We are now indifferent to that. Our first priority is to recover the loans. Any investor comes in with eyes open," he said. He added that the banks are not hurting any body's interests as they are selling the USL shares above the open offer price of Rs 1,440 per share. "Open offer is at Rs 1,440, the current market price is higher, so we are not depressing the price," he said. He said the banks will first sell the shares, which will be followed by other liquid assets, then fixed assets and finally the personal assets.