Reliance Infrastructure has sold Reliance Centre, the Mumbai-based headquarters of Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Group, to its lender Yes Bank to reduce debt exposure.
The transaction value is Rs 1,200 crore ($163.5 million).
With this, Reliance Infrastructure has sold three major assets this year, including Delhi Agra Toll Road and Parbati Koldam Transmission.
Yes Bank, which operates from Indiabulls Centre near Prabhadevi in Central Mumbai, will convert Reliance Centre into its corporate headquarters.
The State Bank of India (SBI)-backed lender had an exposure of Rs 4,000 crore in the cash-strapped firm and, after this transaction, the debt of Reliance Infrastructure will come down by half to around Rs 2,000 crore.
In July last year, after a 60-day notice, Yes Bank took possession of three properties of the Reliance Group -- two flats in South Mumbai and Reliance Centre under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act -- for non-payment of loans amounting to Rs 2,892.44 crore.
Previously in 2019, in an attempt to raise resources and pay off debt, the Reliance Group was looking to lease out the headquarters measuring 21,432 square metres, according to the Yes Bank notice.
Close to the Mumbai airport, Reliance Centre is a state-of-the-art office building in the suburbs of Mumbai and has a covered parking space for 425 four-wheelers and 150 two-wheelers.
Most of Anil Ambani’s group firms operated from Reliance Centre.
Last year, Anil Ambani claimed that Reliance Infrastructure, which has outstanding loans of Rs 6,000 crore, will be debt-free in 2020-21. In 2018, the company sold its Mumbai energy business to Adani Transmission for nearly Rs 18,800 crore, which helped reduce the debt to nearly Rs 7,500 crore.
