Deutsche Bank has settled the loans it extended to Go Airlines out of court with its promoters Wadia Group, people aware of the development said. Go Airlines, which operated Go First Airlines, is undergoing voluntary liquidation.
Last week, Deutsche Bank conveyed to its resolution professional Shailendra Ajmera and lenders that it wants to relinquish itself as a member of the committee of creditors (CoC) since it has separately settled its debt with the promoter, people cited above said.
Exit of the German bank will not have any impact on the debt resolution or recovery of dues, a senior consultant told ET. The RP, backed by EY, recently extended the date to submit expressions of interest from potential bidders for the distressed airline by a month to September 8.
A Go First spokesperson in a statement said, “We are not aware of settlement of any such loan. However, Britannia Industries is no way involved with Go First directly or indirectly for any loans provided.”
Deutsche Bank and Ajmera declined to comment. According to the initial list of claims filed by creditors on June 8, Deutsche Bank had filed Rs 1,365 crore-claims which were classified as unsecured creditors.
Out of this, Deutsche Bank India claimed Rs 855 crore while DB International Asia along with Catalyst Trusteeship claimed Rs 510 crore. Both claims from Deutsche Bank were not verified as on June 8, the latest available data show.
ET first reported on May 12 that Deutsche Bank provided the Mauritius-based Wadia Group company $300 million in 2021 and 2022 by creating charge on the bank account of Britannia Industries’ parent in London. During the same period, the company created $190 million fixed deposits that were used as security to finance Go First, ET had reported.
The German bank has not disclosed how the loan was settled in its communication to the RP. It is likely that the bank has fully recovered its dues by settling them against the $190-million deposits, said one of the persons cited above.
The RP has received claims amounting to Rs 24,641 crore. However, only Rs 5,117 crore claims were verified.
Secured creditors include just three banks with claims of Rs 3,752.4 crore. These are the Bank of Baroda, with verified claims of around Rs 1,744 crore, Central Bank of India with Rs 1,924 crore, and IDBI Bank Rs 74 crore claim.
The Delhi National Company Law Tribunal had admitted Nusli Wadia-promoted Go Airlines under the corporate insolvency resolution process on May 10 — a move that is opposed by aircraft lessors.
Lessors including GY Aviation Lease, SMBC Aviation Capital, Pembroke Aircraft Leasing want to take back their planes.
However, since moratorium comes into effect after a company gets admitted for insolvency, lessors cannot repossess their airplane and thus oppose the corporate insolvency process.
