<p>Lenders failed to find any takers for brands and trademarks of the long-defunct Kingfisher Airlines at an e-auction on Saturday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>With this, the efforts of the 17-bank consortium led by state-run behemoth SBI to recover a portion of over Rs 9,000 crore dues from beleaguered Vijay Mallya hit yet another airpocket.<br /><br />The reserve price was kept at Rs 366.70 crore, not even a tenth of the price at which the brand was pledged for an exorbitant Rs 4,000 crore in 2010.<br /><br />Sources said, however, the reserve price was “too high” for any bidder to come in.<br />Saturday’s attempts came within 45 days of the consortium’s failure to sell the Kingfisher House, the erstwhile headquarters of the airline, for Rs 150 crore.<br /><br />Banks so far have recovered only around Rs 1,240 crore and a similar amount has been encashed through selling pledged shares in group companies but the money is held up in various court cases.<br /><br />Lenders may now look at revising the reserve price for both Kingfisher House and brand Kingfisher and will soon start the valuation exercise, bank sources told PTI.<br /><br />The items on sale during e-auction included the Kingfisher logo as also the once-famous tagline ‘Fly the Good Times’. The other trademarks on sale included Flying Models, Funliner, Fly Kingfisher and Flying Bird Device.<br /><br />“The reserve price has to be again looked into,” said a banker.<br /><br />May be the beer-maker United Breweries (a Mallya company) reported threat that the Kingfisher logo could only be bought/owned for aviation purposes could have played a role in the auction turning out to be damp squib, said another source.<br /><br />In an official comment on the issue after the banks’ decision to auction the logo, United Breweries, the maker of Kingfisher and Kalyani Black Label beers, had warned that a buyer could use the logo only to set up another airline and for nothing else and anybody buying it for any other purposes would be legally challenged as it held exclusive rights to the brand. <br /><br />The online auction began at 11.30 am and lasted for an hour without any success. It was conducted by SBI Cap Trustee Company on behalf of lenders under the Sarfaesi Act.<br /><br />In its annual report for 2012-13, KFA said that at its peak, it was the largest airline in India, with a five-star rating from Skytrax. The airline’s brand had been registered separately from the Kingfisher beer trademarks. A senior banker said, “The interest for this auction could have been from existing airline operators, but no one will come. It is better to start a new airline company than to buy this brand and revive it.”<br /><br />According to brand experts, the fate of Saturday’s auction was known as the brand has taken a beating in past few years. “It was expected because the value of the Kingfisher brand is near zero,” N Chandramouli, chief executive of TRA, a brand intelligence and data insights company said.<br /><br />In a previous attempt at recovery of dues, which have ballooned to over Rs 9,000 crore after taking into account the interest component, the banks had conducted an auction of Kingfisher House last month, but did not find any takers at a reserve price of Rs 150 crore. The Kingfisher House property has a built-up area of over 17,000 square feet in posh Vile Parle near domestic airport here.</p>
<p>Lenders failed to find any takers for brands and trademarks of the long-defunct Kingfisher Airlines at an e-auction on Saturday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>With this, the efforts of the 17-bank consortium led by state-run behemoth SBI to recover a portion of over Rs 9,000 crore dues from beleaguered Vijay Mallya hit yet another airpocket.<br /><br />The reserve price was kept at Rs 366.70 crore, not even a tenth of the price at which the brand was pledged for an exorbitant Rs 4,000 crore in 2010.<br /><br />Sources said, however, the reserve price was “too high” for any bidder to come in.<br />Saturday’s attempts came within 45 days of the consortium’s failure to sell the Kingfisher House, the erstwhile headquarters of the airline, for Rs 150 crore.<br /><br />Banks so far have recovered only around Rs 1,240 crore and a similar amount has been encashed through selling pledged shares in group companies but the money is held up in various court cases.<br /><br />Lenders may now look at revising the reserve price for both Kingfisher House and brand Kingfisher and will soon start the valuation exercise, bank sources told PTI.<br /><br />The items on sale during e-auction included the Kingfisher logo as also the once-famous tagline ‘Fly the Good Times’. The other trademarks on sale included Flying Models, Funliner, Fly Kingfisher and Flying Bird Device.<br /><br />“The reserve price has to be again looked into,” said a banker.<br /><br />May be the beer-maker United Breweries (a Mallya company) reported threat that the Kingfisher logo could only be bought/owned for aviation purposes could have played a role in the auction turning out to be damp squib, said another source.<br /><br />In an official comment on the issue after the banks’ decision to auction the logo, United Breweries, the maker of Kingfisher and Kalyani Black Label beers, had warned that a buyer could use the logo only to set up another airline and for nothing else and anybody buying it for any other purposes would be legally challenged as it held exclusive rights to the brand. <br /><br />The online auction began at 11.30 am and lasted for an hour without any success. It was conducted by SBI Cap Trustee Company on behalf of lenders under the Sarfaesi Act.<br /><br />In its annual report for 2012-13, KFA said that at its peak, it was the largest airline in India, with a five-star rating from Skytrax. The airline’s brand had been registered separately from the Kingfisher beer trademarks. A senior banker said, “The interest for this auction could have been from existing airline operators, but no one will come. It is better to start a new airline company than to buy this brand and revive it.”<br /><br />According to brand experts, the fate of Saturday’s auction was known as the brand has taken a beating in past few years. “It was expected because the value of the Kingfisher brand is near zero,” N Chandramouli, chief executive of TRA, a brand intelligence and data insights company said.<br /><br />In a previous attempt at recovery of dues, which have ballooned to over Rs 9,000 crore after taking into account the interest component, the banks had conducted an auction of Kingfisher House last month, but did not find any takers at a reserve price of Rs 150 crore. The Kingfisher House property has a built-up area of over 17,000 square feet in posh Vile Parle near domestic airport here.</p>