IL&FS seeks to raise Rs 300 billion in asset sales to cut debt: Report

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd, an Indian conglomerate that has missed payment on more than five of its obligations since August, is seeking to raise more than 300 billion rupees ($4.2 billion) selling assets to cut debt, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.

The company, which has been categorized as a “systemically important” non-banking financial firm by the Reserve Bank of India, plans to sell 25 assets and has received investor interest for 14 of them, according to the note sent to employees by Vice Chairman and Managing Director Hari Sankaran. The company is satisfied with the valuation of the offers, Sankaran said. IL&FS didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on the note.

Investors are concerned that defaults by IL&FS, which has total debt of $12.6 billion -- 61 percent in the form of loans from financial institutions -- could spread to other shadow banks in Asia’s third-largest economy. The firm, which helped fund India’s longest highway tunnel, hasn’t been able to pay more than 4.9 billion rupees ($68 million) of its obligations this year and has additional dues of about 2.2 billion rupees to be repaid by end of October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.