According to two senior public sector bank executives, Transstroy and AMW Motors are fairly stressed and have delayed their repayments by more than 60 days, categorising them as special mention accounts (SMA-2). (Thinkstock)
Lenders to engineering and construction firm Transstroy and trucks manufacturer AMW Motors are pushing for conversion of a large portion of loans into equity using the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) strategic debt restructuring (SDR) tool, sources told FE. Transstroy, whose business collapsed suddenly in FY15, owes 14 banks a total of Rs 4,300 crore via a multi-banking agreement. The loss-making AMW Motors, which was hit by the ban on mining in Odisha, Karnataka and Goa, owed a consortium of nine lenders led by IDBI Bank a sum of Rs 1,432 crore as of March 2014.
According to two senior public sector bank executives, both companies are fairly stressed and have delayed their repayments by more than 60 days, categorising them as special mention accounts (SMA-2).
“Neither one can survive without a new promoter and a change in management,” one of the bankers said, adding that talks were in initial stages.
The collapse in the fortunes of Transstroy was quite sudden because even in FY14, the Hyderabad-based firm’s revenues jumped 45% to Rs 4,524 crore and it earned a profit of Rs 266 crore, a rise of 39%. That’s despite the firm having paid interest costs of Rs 307 crore. The company is headed by Sridhar Cherukuri who is chairman, managing director and CEO.
FE had earlier reported that the company signed three car loan agreements for R4.73 crore with Alphera Financial Services, a financing arm of BMW Group Financial Services, to buy a Lamborghini Huracan coupe, a Mercedes Benz S350 and a BMW Z4 sDrive even when it was on the verge of being declared a non-performing asset. Meanwhile, Gujarat-based AMW’s gross debt at the end of March 2014 stood at R1,432 crore, up 25% over the March, 2013, its filings with the registrar of companies showed.
In FY14 (latest data available), the company reported a loss of Rs 103 crore on the back of Rs 840 crore in revenues. The finance costs stood at Rs 164 crore. The company’s debt of Rs 800 crore was restructured under the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) mechanism in September 2013 after being referred to the CDR cell in March 2013.
“AMW’s production fell to 30% of its capacity owing to a fall in demand. This resulted in cash flow problems and the company is finding it difficult to pay off its debt,” a banker said, adding that the mining ban in Odisha, Karnataka and Goa has hit the company’s sales.
Led by IDBI Bank, the consortium of nine lenders to AMW Motors include Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce, among others.
AMW Motors is led by Anirudh Bhuwalka as its MD and CEO.
The SDR rules allow banks to convert a company’s debt into shares at a price below the current market value or an average of closing prices in the 10 trading days before a decision is taken at the joint lenders’ forum. They can own up to 51% of the equity of the company.