Mashreq’s exposure to Jet Airways pegged at AED735 mn?
MUMBAI: Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank with an asset base of AED526 billion (Rs10 lakh crore), has an exposure of about AED170 million (Rs324.33 crore) to the hugely debt-laden Reliance Communications, which is currently going through the corporate insolvency process.
The latest creditors’ list revealed by Reliance Communications, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) companies shows that the total claims against Reliance Communications are pegged at a whopping Rs57,382.5 crore (AED30.20 billion), with ADAG companies alone accounting for little over Rs7000 crore.
There were reports that Mashreqbank (Mashreq), one of the oldest and largest private sector banks in the UAE, has an exposure of about AED735 million to the grounded Jet Airways, where the Abu Dhabi’s national carrier Etihad Airways used to hold 24 per cent stake.
The media report in April had said that Jet Airways owed a total of Rs7,251 crore (AED3.820 billion) to the domestic banks that include State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India (BoI), Canara Bank, IDBI, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), ICICI, Yes Bank and Punjab National Bank (PNB).
“At the same time, in addition to the dues to the domestic lenders, Jet Airways also owes about AED1.211 billion to foreign banks – Mashreqbank and HSBC with the latter holding claims to the tune of AED477 million (Rs910 crore),” the report had said in April.
Another UAE connection relates to the infamous Indian NBFC major IL&FS where Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), holds 12.56 per cent whereas the majority ownership in IL&FS Financial Services is held by major Indian financial institutions lead by LIC.
IL&FS has sent shockwaves through the country’s financial system a few months back with series of credit defaults that later prompted the regulators to rejig the risk and liquidity parameters of the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in the country.
The list of creditors to Reliance Communications released on Monday shows that the largest creditor is China Development Bank with Rs9,863.89 crore followed by country’s largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) with an exposure of Rs4,905.37 crore.
While RCom owes Rs511.02 crore to Standard Chartered Bank London, the exposure of Duetsche Bank (Hong Kong) ‐ Bank of America to the ill-fated company is Rs453.68 crore and that of DBS Bank / ACRE is Rs405.86 crore.
