Media mogul Subhash Chandra has got some more time to settle loans after lenders agreed to extend the September 30 repayment deadline. Though Chandra didn’t disclose the new date, the Essel Group is said to have got another six months, till March 2020, to pay back the Rs. 5,476 crore loans.
Chandra had already repaid or is in the middle of settling about half of his total debt of Rs. 11,000 crore. He has raised Rs. 5,524 crore from selling stakes in Zee Enterprises and solar projects to Invesco Oppenheimer and Adani respectively.
Earlier, Chandra had to repay the entire Rs. 11,000 crore by September 30. But since he has taken concrete steps to settle debts through asset sales, the lenders have agreed to give him some more time to pay back the remaining loans. Essel Group said, the timeline extension was requested purely in the interest of deriving the right value of its “precious” assets.
Chandra plans to sell more shares of flagship Zee Enterprises if the proceeds from the sale of non-media assets aren’t enough. Chandra owns about 36% stake in Zee Enterprises, but 64% of his stake is pledged.