Anil Ambani’s Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) in Mumbai has been taken over by Yes Bank after the company failed to repay the bank dues worth Rs 2,892 crore. Reliance ADAG’s headquarters in Santacruz, Mumbai, which is a 21,000 square feet building has been acquired by the bank, which has also taken possession of two floors of its previous headquarters in Nagin Mahal in South Mumbai. This was informed through an advertisement published in Financial Express on Wednesday. The possession of the building happened on July 22 under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFESI).
The Santacruz building has been the company’s headquarters since 2018 and houses offices of Reliance Capital, Reliance Housing Finance, Reliance General Insurance
The Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADAG group is one of the biggest borrowers of Yes Bank. The bank has a massive exposure of over 12,000 crore to Reliance ADAG.
When the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Anil Ambani in March this year, he had told ED that the company is committed to honour the repayment obligations of all the loans taken from Yes Bank through asset monetisation. He had also said that Reliance ADAG’s exposure to Yes Bank is in compliance with financial regulations.
Yes Bank reportedly gave the company a notice of 60 days to repay the loan on May 5. And after the company failed to repay the loan as of July, Yes Bank took possession of the building under the SARFESI Act, which allows banks to take over assets of those defaulting on loans and sell them without having to drag the company to court.
Interestingly, as per a Mint report, ADAG’s companies had given loans to entities related to family members of Yes bank’s co-founder Rana Kapoor.
“A forensic audit of Reliance Home Finance Ltd by Grant Thornton India, revealed that the company gave a loan of ₹60 crore to Bliss House Pvt. Ltd in April 2018, which was used to repay an existing loan worth ₹60 crore, which RAB Enterprise had borrowed in March 2017. Bliss House is a 100% subsidiary of RAB Enterprise India Pvt Ltd, which is owned by Bindu kapoor, wife of Rana Kapoor,” the Mint report from March 8 states.