Cox & Kings defaults Rs 50 crore debt papers

Travel-services company Cox and Kings defaulted Rs 50 crore in repayment commitments toward outstanding commercial papers, a short-term debt instrument, citing a temporary mismatch in cash flows.

"The working capital situation at Cox & Kings (was) stretched in the past few months and was further affected due to its inability to replace the short-term loans with long-term loans/regular working capital lines," the company told stock exchanges late on Monday. "The company is taking all the required measures to resolve the temporary cash-flow mismatch."

Out of Rs 65 crore that fell due, the company repaid only Rs 15 crore to investors of CPs.


Cox and Kings is also evaluating each business and identifying ways to improve operational performance. It plans to reach out to lenders, seeking revision in loan repayment terms.

"The company will also be approaching its lenders to work out some time-bound program to meet this emergency," it said.

Earlier last week, rating companies cut its creditworthiness to 'D' or default.

Several acquisitions in the past seven-eight years have stretched the company’s balance sheet, an ET analysis showed.