Edelweiss files bankruptcy case against Kohinoor CTNL Infrastructure

MUMBAI: Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company has dragged Kohinoor CTNL Infrastructure, a Mumbai-based property developer, to the court proposing to wind up the defaulting borrower.

The National Company Law Tribunal (Mumbai Bench) has admitted a case for bankruptcy as the property developer has defaulted on a Rs 50.97-crore outstanding loan, originally lent by Andhra Bank, which later sold off the loan to Edelweiss ARC.

Insolvency cases, now billed as a panacea for banks saddled with bad loans, got a boost after the Reserve Bank of India had last week identified a dozen of defaulting accounts for bankruptcy proceedings.

Kohinoor CTNL Infrastructure has defaulted in repaying the principal and interest on term loans since March, 2015.

"It is evident that the corporate debtor defaulted in making payments and also placed the name of the insolvency resolution professional to act as interim resolution professional, having this bench noticed that default has occurred,” a tribunal bench said while admitting Edelweiss ERC’s petition.

The bench, comprising V Nallasenapathy, member – technical, and B S V Prakashkumar, member – judicial, has appointed Sripatham V Ramkumar from Hyderabad as an interim insolvency resolution professional to take up matters relating to insolvency processes.

Kohinoor CTNL Infrastructure has admitted the non-repayment of loan and cited delay in project completion — which led to increase in interest cost during construction period and escalation in construction cost substantially — as reason behind the default.

In 2010, lenders including Andhra Bank entered into a common loan agreement with the company, sanctioning much larger sum than the default amount. Andhra Bank alone granted a term loan of Rs 93.75 crore.