Future Retail Debt Restructuring: Board approves resolution plan, sets April 26 as execution deadline

Future Retail said the resolution plan will be done as per the RBI's Resolution Framework for COVID-19 Related Stress. (File image: Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani)

The Board of Future Retail on April 17 approved a resolution plan to restructure secured financial debt from the company’s bankers. Execution of the plan is targeted by April 26, 2021.

“The board of directors of the Company, at its meeting held on April 17, 2021, has approved a resolution plan to restructure existing secured financial debt from the company’s bankers as permitted under the Reserve Bank of India’s Resolution Framework for COVID 19 related stress,” the Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail said in its stock exchange filing.

The RBI's Resolution Framework for COVID-19 Related Stress was notified on August 6, 2020.

Future Retail's resolution plan has already been approved by the lenders and will also be submitted to the Kamath Committee for approval.

As part of the plan, debt raised through Non-Convertible Debentures (NCD) issued by the company is proposed to be recast. It said that 100 percent of its NCD holders have agreed to the amended terms as per the resolution plan.

Besides this, the repayment of short term loans, term loans, NCDs and overdue working capital loans will also be extended by up to two years.

Moreover, the amount of interest due between March 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021 will be converted into a Funded Interest Term Loan (FTIL), which will be payable by December 2021.

Future Retails' cash credit will be continued at a reduced level as per the banks' assessment and the penal interest charges and default premium unpaid since March 2020 will be fully waived off by the lenders.

The deadline for the execution of the resolution plan has been decided as April 26, 2021.

As per a Care Ratings note from October 2020, Future Retail had loans worth Rs 6,278 crore, including long-term term loans of Rs 528 crore, Long-term fund based bank facilities of Rs 3,250 crore and short-term non-fund based bank facilities of Rs 2,500 crore. CNBC-TV18 further reported that it has issued outstanding NCDs of Rs 299 crore, and a Fixed Deposit Programme of Rs 700 crore.

Future Retails’ lenders include Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, UCO Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, IDBI Bank, IDFC First Bank, Rabo Bank, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, J&K Bank, Barclays, Kotak Bank, Qatar National Bank, RBL Bank, DBS Bank India, Shinhan Bank, Mannapuram Finance and Punjab & Sind Bank.