Icici bank takes 29.3% stake in gtl after share pledge

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/icici-bank-takes-293-stake-in-gtl-after-share-pledge/articleshow/9409739.cms

SINGAPORE/MUMBAI:ICICI Bank has assumed a 29.3 percent stake in debt-laden telecoms infrastructure companyGTL after taking over shares pledged by its promoter, GTL said in a stock exchange statement on Friday.

The shares were acquired on Thursday, when GTL's stock ended at Rs 68.2 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. At that value, ICICI recovered about Rs 194 crore ($44 million) of the Rs 500 crore it is owed under loans to GTL, according to IFR, which first reported the transaction.

GTL said in a recent stock exchange filing that its promoter, Global Holding Corp, a unit of GTL Chairman Manoj Tirodkar's Global Group, had pledged 99.1 percent of its 52 percent stake in the company to lenders, according to IFR.

Syndicate Bank has a similar claim over the remaining pledged shares, a source told IFR.

GTL and another group company,GTL Infrastructure Ltd, are embroiled in a debt restructuring exercise with 25 lenders, IFR said. GTL has debts of about Rs 6,000 crore andGTL Infrastructure has debts of about Rs 11,000 crore, according to IFR.

In June, GTL and GTL Infrastructure appointed SBI Capital Markets to assess their financial situation and obligations, following a battering of their stock prices the previous week.

A spokesman for ICICI, India's second-largest bank, could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, Economic Times said rival telecom tower firm Viom Networks had made a Rs 7,500 crore ($1.69 billion) offer to buy GTL Infrastructure.

Later in the day, GTL Infrastructure said, "there are many aspirants who want to acquire Company's assets or partner with the Company," but said there had not been any formal discussions with Viom Networks.

Viom is a joint venture between telecoms carrier Tata Teleservices and tower firm Quippo.

Shares of GTL closed up by 10.15 percent at Rs 74.90 on Friday, and GTL Infrastructure closed up 9.09 percent at Rs 15 a share in a weak Mumbai market.

GTL shares have lost about 84 percent from their year peak last September.

Last year, GTL Infrastructure struck a deal to take over the telecom tower business ofReliance Communications, which would have created a company with an enterprise value of $11 billion. The deal collapsed when the companies failed to agree on terms.