Private equity giant KKR drags Sintex arm to NCLT over Rs 430 crore loan

August 12: KKR has dragged an arm of Sintex to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) over a loan of Rs 430 crore. The private equity group is seeking to initiate insolvency proceedings against Sintex-BAPL Ltd, a unit of the Ahmedabad-based Sintex group that makes plastic components for cars and sports utility vehicles, as per court filings seen by Economic Times. 

The petition was filed through KKR’s advocate Vividh Tandon of Trilegal at NCLT’s Ahmedabad bench. KKR has nominated Jet Airways’s administrator Ashish Chhawchharia to manage Sintex-BAPL’s affairs if its application is admitted, according to sources. Chhawchharia’s appointment is subject to a clearance from the NCLT, Economic Times reported. 

KKR declined to comment. Sintex had not responded to ET’s queries until press time.  Certain group of lenders including KKR provided financing worth around Rs 1,200 crore to Sintex-BAPL two years ago. KKR provided the funds through its non-banking finance company (NBFC), KKR India Financial Services Considering the default pertains to a period prior to March 1, 2020 and therefore not covered under the moratorium on new cases under IBC or by the one-time restructuring scheme, KKR has decided to move court, explained sources in the know.  

Sintex Industries spun off its plastics business in 2017 into publicly traded Sintex Plastics. Sintex-BAPL is a subsidiary of the latter. The promoters’ shareholding in Sintex Plastics was 13% as per latest available stock exchange filings. Sintex Industries houses the textiles business of the group. In a similar but unrelated proceeding at NCLT, Punjab National Bank has filed an application for insolvency proceedings against Sintex Industries. The application is yet to be admitted. Sintex Industries owes banks around Rs 6,000 crore. 

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