Yes Bank Clarifies On Essel Group Loan Settlement By JC Flowers ARC

Yes Bank Ltd. issued a clarification on the Essel Group loan settlement by JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Pvt. on Monday.

The bank clarified and denied any role in settlement or negotiation after the sale of loan portfolio to JC Flowers ARC, in an exchange filing.

"The bank would like to clarify that post the sale of the identified loan portfolio to JC Flowers ARC in December 2022 (disclosed earlier on Dec. 17, 2022), the bank has no further role in settlements/negotiations being undertaken by JC Flowers ARC," it said.

The clarification comes in response to media reports mentioning that JC Flowers ARC had settled the case with Subhash Chandra by taking a 75% haircut on dues worth Rs 6,500 crore.

With this, the association of the bank with JC Flowers ARC stays limited to the extent of its current shareholding, at 9.9%, according to the exchange filing.

In December 2022, Yes Bank sold its stressed-asset loan portfolio worth Rs 48,000 crore to JC Flowers ARC. The sale was done under a 15:85 structure after adjusting recoveries between April 1, 2022, and Nov. 30, 2022, the exchange filing said.

Under the non-performing asset sale, Yes Bank transferred 44.54 crore shares of Dish TV India to JC Flowers ARC. Other companies covered under the stressed asset sale included Vadraj Cement Ltd., Rosa Power Supply Ltd., Asian Hotels (North) Ltd., and others.

BQ Prime had previously reported that Yes Bank conducted the sale through a transparent bidding process under the Swiss Challenge Method. In this case, the ARC's bid was considered the base bid for the auction.