Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta has moved the Supreme Court, seeking stay on the Adani Group’s ₹14,500-crore debt resolution plan for now insolvent Jaiprakash Associates (JAL).
Challenging the rejection of its revised bid, Vedanta told the apex court that the insolvency process lacked transparency and failed to maximise value for creditors. It alleged that the process followed by the JAL’s committee of creditors in approving the plan of Adani Enterprises (AEL) was “unfair, opaque, and inequitable.”
The move comes after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) last week said that no case was made out for staying the implementation of AEL’s resolution plan. The appellate tribunal had also refused to stay the delisting of JAL from exchanges, a plea sought by the Agarwal-owned resources conglomerate.
While Vedanta claimed to be the highest bidder for JAL all through, it alleged that the lenders had rejected its plan by taking recourse to and incorrect criteria for evaluation of resolution plans and the same required consideration as the insolvency process ran contrary to the objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
The lenders had last year approved the resolution plan put forth by AEL and rejected bids of various companies, including Dalmia Bharat and Jindal Power. The CoC had approved the AEL’s plan with a 93.81% voting share and the Allahabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal approved its resolution plan on March 17.
While AEL offered to pay ₹14,535 crore, Vedanta submitted an initial bid of ₹17,000 crore, of which the upfront cash component was about ₹4,000 crore and the rest payable over six years. Vedanta later in November revised its bid, offering a total of ₹16,726 crore of which ₹6,563 crore was to be paid upfront while rest payable in five years.
In 2024, the NCLT had admitted ICICI Bank’s insolvency petition against JAL for a debt of ₹1,269 crore. The order was upheld by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal the same year. around ₹1,296 crore
JAL has a significant land bank of nearly 4,000 acre across Noida, Greater Noida, and the Yamuna Expressway, including premier projects like Jaypee International Sports City near the upcoming Noida International Airport. Besides, JAL also owns hotels and cement plants with a capacity of around 6.5 million tonnes.
Source: Economic Times