State-owned NBCC and Suraksha group, which are in the race to acquire Jaypee Infratech under the insolvency resolution process, have submitted revised bids and improved their offers for financial creditors. According to sources, NBCC and Suraksha group submitted their revised bids on Monday.
Suraksha group has now offered a line of credit of Rs 3,000 crore as working capital for construction of projects as against the earlier proposal of Rs 2,000 crore, the sources said. It has also given an undertaking that any shortfall to the dissenting creditors will be met.
NBCC is offering up to 1,903 acres of land while Surakasha group has proposed over 2,600 acres to the lenders. Suraksha group has earmarked 1,486 acres to dissenting lenders out of the total land parcels offered in the proposal. NBCC has provided an additional 377 acres of land in case dissenting financial creditors are not satisfied with its original offer of 1,526 acre, taking its total offer to up to 1,903 acre.
While Suraksha group has proposed to keep Yamuna Expressway road project, NBCC has offered to transfer over 80 per cent of the stake in the project to the lenders. This is the fourth round of the bidding process in the matter of Jaypee Infratech, which went into an insolvency process in August 2017. The process was initiated on a plea filed by an IDBI-led consortium.
In March this year, the Supreme Court remitted to the CoC (Committee of Creditors) the issue of approval of resolution plan for Jaypee Infratech, saying no new expression of interest would be entertained for taking over the firm and only NBCC and Suraksha Realty could file revised proposals. The apex court had also directed extending the resolution process by 45 days, which has already lapsed.
In March 2020, NBCC had got an approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to acquire Jaypee Infratech. The order was, however, challenged in the appellate tribunal NCLAT and later in the Supreme Court, which has ordered conducting fresh bidding. Homebuyers’ claim amounting to Rs 13,364 crore and lenders’ claims worth Rs 9,783 crore were admitted last year.
Jaypee Infratech went into the insolvency process in August 2017. Anuj Jain was appointed as an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) to conduct the insolvency process and also manage the affairs of the company. In the first round of insolvency proceedings, the Rs 7,350-crore bid of Lakshadweep, part of Suraksha group, was rejected by the lenders. The CoC rejected the bids of Suraksha Realty and NBCC in the second round held in May-June 2019.
The matter then reached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and then the apex court. On November 6, 2019, the Supreme Court directed the completion of Jaypee Infratech’s insolvency process within 90 days and ordered that the revised resolution plan to be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha Realty.
In December 2019, the CoC comprising 13 banks and around 21,000 homebuyers, approved the resolution plan of NBCC with a 97.36 per cent vote in favour in the third round of the bidding process.