Calcutta, March 31: Eragan Sudhir Reddy - a trailblazer from Andhra's remarkable stable of first-generation entrepreneurs who have thrived in a world of opportunities thrown up by the economic liberalization of 1991 - is in danger of sputtering out after close to a three-decade roller coaster ride.

Today, he is all set to lose control of the Hyderabad-based firm as banks and financial institutions, who have been fed up with its continuous losses and high level of debt, have decided to take over the company.

On February 23, the joint lender forum confirmed they would assume a 51 per cent controlling stake in IVRCL, after converting a part of the Rs 7,500 crore debt. Reddy and his family owns only 7.64 per cent stake.

The change in ownership will be done through the Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) route, ordained by the Reserve Bank of India, where the lenders are obliged to find a new promoter for the debt-laden firm.

The company, which used to pride itself in water management system, having built one of India's biggest desalination plants near Chennai, ventured into infrastructure space in 1987. In less than a quarter of a century, it was able to flaunt orders worth Rs 25,000 crore by 2010.

Even after several setbacks and blacklisting orders in several states, the company claimed it had orders worth Rs 19,200 crore at the end of March last year in water, irrigation, roadways, and power distribution projects.

But after four years of continuous losses, the lenders have made up their mind to push Reddy out of the ring. In the last fiscal, the company posted a whopping Rs 1,568.16-crore loss on a turnover of Rs 3819.5 crore on consolidated basis.

This is not the first attempt by the banks to bail out the firm. In 2014, the lenders placed it under a corporate debt restructuring mechanism where interest rates were brought down and the interest burden shaved off. The company was asked to aggressively monetise its assets.

A Bengal-based businessman, who has worked with Reddy in the past, recalled how he found the company was not really up to the mark. "I found that the company was not professionally managed," he said.