Prudent ARC top bidder for Aban Offshore debt

Mumbai: Bad loan aggregator Prudent ARC has emerged the highest bidder to take over the ₹1,080 crore debt of Aban Offshore, India's largest offshore drilling contractor, from Punjab National Bank (PNB) in what is the first sale of debt in the company by a bank. The company owes nearly ₹40,000 crore to lenders.

Prudent had emerged as the highest bidder offering to pay ₹193 crore after the bank had put the loan account for sale following a ₹155 crore offer for settlement (OFS) from Aban promoters. In a Swiss auction conducted earlier this month, another ARC placed a bid of ₹222 crore, which Prudent matched using its right of first refusal as the original highest bidder.

Prudent founder and promoter Pradeep Goel confirmed that his company has emerged the highest bidder and will take over the debt.


"This is a rare instance where a bank went in for a price discovery based on the OTS (one-time settlement) offer by the borrower company. PNB went ahead in the market for sale of loan to ARCs which has now resulted in an excess recovery of about ₹70 crores (from the initial OTS offer)," Goel said.

For PNB, Prudent's offer means about a 21% recovery on its debt and more importantly allows the bank to avoid a potentially long legal road for recovery through a court-monitored process.