Who owns the oil exploration assets of Videocon? Are those part of the insolvency resolution process? These questions came up in the bankruptcy court a year after the consumer appliance manufacturer defaulted on loans. It was when lenders of Videocon Oil Ventures (VOV) invited bids from potential buyers for selling its exploration assets in Brazil and Indonesia that the resolution professional of the parent company, Videocon Industries (VIL), requested the National Company Law Tribunal to include Videocon Energy Brazil Ltd. and Videocon Indonesia Nunukan Inc. in the ongoing insolvency process. But VOV has favoured sale of assets, particularly the Indonesian asset in which an Indonesian government firm owns majority stake and BPCL a minority stake.
SBI had appointed Deloitte to find buyers for the assets in Brazil and Indonesia. The fact is that the oil assets will attract buyers for Videocon during the insolvency bid. Without these assets, VIL has just some aging factories, lands and workers and the banks may not be able recover any of their debt. The beleaguered Videocon group has admitted to outstanding of over Rs 90,000 crore, making it perhaps the biggest corporate bankruptcy case in the country's banking history.