ICICI Bank Confirms Its Exposure To Bankrupt Oil Trader In Singapore

On Tuesday, ICICI Bank confirmed its exposure to the Singapore-based troubled oil trader Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd (HLT) and also said that it is taking steps to protect its interest.

The private lender provided the clarification over a BSE filing after several media reports spoke of the exposure to the Singapore group that dragged its shares down by nearly 9 percent to end at Rs 331.55 apiece.

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"We confirm that the Bank, in the normal course of its business, has exposure to the borrower group in question, is taking due steps to protect its interests, and will appropriately reflect the same in its financial statements, as it would do in respect of all its banking exposures," ICICI Bank said in the filing.

The bank made no specifications on the extent of its exposure or what kind of steps it is taking to protect interests of the investors and other stakeholders.

On Monday, a Reuters report citing sources said that ICICI Bank has $100 million exposure to the trader and that it is asking for authorities to impound two vessels operated by Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd, a unit HLT.

According to a court filing reviewed by Reuters, HLT's founder and director had directed his firm not to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in losses over several years.

Hin Leon Trading Pte and its sister company Ocean Tankers which owns more than 100 cargo ships have both filed for bankruptcy on Friday in Singapore courts which will give 30 days to restructure debt.

According to an Economic Times report citing S&P owned Platts agency's data, ICICI Bank out of the $100 million it lent to the company, $75 million is secured.

The Mumbai-based lender is one of the 23 secured creditors which have lent a total of $3.64 billion to the company, the report said. Among these creditors, UK based HSBC and Dutch bank ABN Amro have the largest exposures at $598 million and $299 million, it said.