The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) giving new ammunition to the banks to cope with a mounting bad debt, has issued new norms for Strategic Debt Conversion (SDR) which will give lenders the right to convert their outstanding loans into a majority equity stake if the borrower fails to meet conditions stipulated under the restructuring package.
RBI said that in many cases of restructuring of accounts, borrower companies are not able to come out of stress due to operational/ managerial inefficiencies despite substantial sacrifices made by the lending banks. In such cases, change of ownership will be a preferred option. Henceforth, the Joint Lenders’ Forum (JLF) should actively consider such change in ownership under the SDR framework. Further in order to achieve the change in ownership, the lenders under the JLF should collectively become the majority shareholder by conversion of their dues from the borrower into equity. However the conversion by JLF lenders of their outstanding debt (principal as well as unpaid interest) into equity instruments shall be subject to the member banks’ respective total holdings in shares of the company conforming to the statutory limit in terms of Section 19(2) of Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
The scheme also says that the new management should not have any links to the old promoters.' New promoter should not be a person/entity/subsidiary/associate, etc (domestic as well as overseas), from the existing promoter/promoter group. Banks should clearly establish that the acquirer does not belong to the existing promoter group,' RBI said. The new promoter has to acquire the entire 51%. However, if foreign investment is limited to less than 51%, the new promoter should own at least 26%.
On divestment of banks' holding in favour of a new promoter, the asset classification of the account may be upgraded to 'standard'. The equity shares acquired and held by banks under the scheme shall be exempt from the requirement of periodic mark-to-market. RBI has also said the pricing formula, in case of banks taking over a company by converting debt to equity, would be exempt from Sebi’s Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers and Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2009. Conversion of debt into equity will also be exempted from regulatory ceilings on capital market exposures, investment in para-banking activities and intra-group exposure.
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