The bankruptcy court has given the resolution professional overlooking asset monetisation of debt-laden Aircel more time – till January 15 -to complete the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), failing which the telco may go under liquidation.
“…as informed by the Ld. Resolution Professional, I am of the view that a period of 90 days can be extended by invoking the jurisdiction as prescribed u/s.12(3) of the Insolvency Code,” said the bench, headed by MK Shrawat in an interim order passed in October by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)-Mumbai bench.
The extension was requested by resolution professional (RP) Deloitte, who is overseeing the debt resolution process of Aircel, owned by Malaysia’s Maxis, that has raked up a debt of around Rs 50,000 crore. The resolution period ended on October 8, and in a meeting held by the committee of creditors (CoC), it was “unanimously agreed and authorized to apply for the extension”.
The company, against which insolvency proceedings began in March, is racing against the 180-day deadline — plus 90 days of additional time — to raise funds to restart operations, generate revenue and sell assets or businesses to repay at least some of the Rs 19,000 crore owed to the banks.
The interim order dated October 16 – from which the 90-day extension starts – stated that as per the revised timelines, RP will have to submit the successful resolution plan to NCLT by December 14, which was earlier slotted for November 22.
The operator has been struggling to raise money for its upkeep. Earlier, a team led by senior executives of the company had managed to raise Rs 90 crore, which is almost at par with the amount infused by Maxis – Rs 95 crore – in early April.
Aircel has also been trying to raise funds from other sources as well. It is fighting a legal battle with Bharti Airtel over dues worth Rs 453 crore that the struggling company says its larger rival holds for the 4G spectrum that was sold. The matter is in the Supreme Court.
