Amid rumours that Essel Group promoter Subhash Chandra has fled the country amid debt crisis, son Punit Goenka has rubbished the rumours saying his father was not someone to "run away" from challenges. "It has been brought to my notice that certain mischief makers have insinuated that my father and our Chairman Shri @SubhashChandra has left the country. Vide this tweet, I wish to clarify straightaway, that He is very much in Mumbai at home," Goenka clarified via Twitter on Monday.
"He is a fighter and a patriot, and certainly not one to run away from challenges. My message to the ones who attempted this, focus on positive things in life!! (sic)," Goenka added. The rumours came in the backdrop of successful fleeing attempts by embattled businessmen, including Kingfisher Airlines's Vijay Mallya, diamantaire Nirav Modi, his uncle and Gitanjali Gems promoter Mehul Choksi and Sterling Biotech Ltd promoters Sandesara brothers.
The speculations of Chandra fleeing India were doing the rounds as the September 30 deadline for the father-son duo to repay their Rs 11,000 crore debt was fast approaching on Monday. However, the Essel group had informed last week that while more than half of the amount has already been paid, it received another extension for the remaining amount.
But it was not clear which mutual fund houses from which it has borrowed money have "unanimously" decided to grant it more time for repayments. The unprecedented move from the fund houses comes at a time when the share prices of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, their core security, have seen massive corrections.
The promoters had borrowed the money for other businesses, including infrastructure, roads and power, by pledging their holdings of ZEEL. A majority of these bets went awry and the liquidity crisis created by the collapse of IL&FS made it difficult to refinance the debt.
Simultaneously, bears mauled the ZEEL scrip as well, triggering a piquant situation where the value of security held by the lenders went down. In the face of the troubles, and with a view to protect the value, nearly the dozen MFs decided to give Essel more time.
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It can be noted that till now, the promoters have sold their ZEEL holdings in two tranches to raise over Rs 4,000 crore. They have also signed a deal with Adani Energy to sell solar assets for Rs 1,300 crore.
According to reports, the Essel Group has made some part payments to its creditors as the money from the stake sales started flowing in.
(With PTI inputs)
