Subrata Roy’s Indian properties will be sold by the country’s capital markets regulator in hopes of compensating the mogul’s jilted bondholders.
India’s Supreme Court ordered the agency begin 86 of the Sahara India Pariwar boss’s domestic assets, with the aim of recovering 400 billion rupees ($6 billion), the Wall Street Journal reported.
Roy – the majority owner of The Plaza Hotel on Central Park South – has been in jail for over two years after failing to comply with a 2012 order to repay bondholders after an allegedly illegal debt issuance.
His bail is set at $1.5 billion. Sahara has already put $750 million towards that total. If the government’s’ sales net another $750 million, he’ll be released.
On Tuesday, Monaco-based investors David and Simon Reuben, who own The Plaza’s debt, canceled a planned foreclosure auction for the iconic 557,000-square-foot property, saying they would give Roy and his partners more time to pay off the note.
It’s not clear if the Indian government’s move will affect The Plaza situation. Roy bought his stake in that property in 2012 for $600 million. [WSJ] – Ariel Stulberg