PANAJI
The auction of Kingfisher Villa on Wednesday turned out to be a dud affair, with not a single bidder turning up during the auction to bid for the sprawling villa.
The palatial Kingfisher Villa based at Candolim, belonged to the much controversial Vijay Mallya at one point in time. Mallya used to host lavish parties at this sea-facing villa admeasuring 12,350 sq mts.
Kingfisher Villa was owned by United Breweries, a company controlled by Mallya. The villa was mortgaged by Kingfisher Airlines, another Mallya company, to a consortium of banks to raise funds.
Kingfisher Airlines made huge losses, and it ultimately ceased operations in 2013. However, Mallya still owed money to consortium of banks on this account.
The consortium led by the State Bank of India (SBI) had taken possession of Kingfisher Villa in May this year after a long battle. There were hopes that this villa will help the lenders in recovering a part of around Rs 9,000 crore, which Mallya owes them, but that did not turn out to be the case.
According to sources, 7-8 parties had arrived to inspect the villa during two slots, i.e. September 26-27 and October 5-6.
The lenders had fixed the reserve price for Kingfisher Villa at Rs 85.29 crore. It is also reported that October 19 was the first and the last day of the auction of Kingfisher Villa.
But, this is not the first time that lenders have failed to sell an asset belonging to Mallya to recover the huge sum that he owes them. Earlier this year, the lenders had tried selling Kingfisher House near Mumbai airport, Mallya’s personal jets, among several other assets, but no buyer had shown interest even then.
