At least seven entities, including Reliance Industries (RIL), an HPCL-Lakshmi Mittal joint venture and two Jindal group companies, are learnt to have evinced interest in acquiring bankrupt JBF Petrochemicals—a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) manufacturer. PTA is the raw material for polyester fibre and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resin—used to make jars and bottles for mineral water and carbonated soft drinks.
The total outstanding of the beleaguered company towards creditors stands at Rs 4.700 crore.
Others are believed to be in the race are a consortium of ONGC and Indian Oil, GAIL, and MCPI, a Kolkata-based company that is the second-largest producer of PTA in the country after RIL, ET reported, citing sources.
The financial daily mentioned that the list of potential buyers could expand to up to 12 by May 30 when the final list is compiled by the company’s resolution professional Sundaresh Bhatt.
KKR Jupiter Investors backed JBF Petrochemicals was admitted to the bankruptcy process in February after creditors finally decided to take the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) route after trying since 2017 to find a buyer for the company.
Lenders had held discussions with ONGC and GAIL before the company’s admission into the bankruptcy process but those talks did not materialise.
The company’s secure lenders include IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and EXIM Bank, and IDBI Bank accounts for 50 per cent of the outstanding debt of the company.
In 2021, the creditors invited bids for $463. 38 million (Rs 3,460 crore) debt and 51 per cent equity of JBF Petrochemicals. However, talks with Dubai-based Citax Energy’s $190 million offer and ACRE’s $160 million to take over the debt did not materialise because the offers did not match the lenders’ expectations.
