Asset Reconstruction Co. of India (ARCIL) has emerged as the single challenger bidder to acquire Yes Bank’s ₹48,000 crore bad loan portfolio, two people aware of the matter said. The Avenue Capital-backed ARC has also tied up with private equity firm Cerberus Capital to finance the bid, the people said on the condition of anonymity.
The bid also marks the return of Cerberus to the Yes Bank asset sale, which it had lost in the first round.
Despite being a strong contender, the private equity firm had lost out to JC Flowers ARC, as it did not own an ARC.
After accepting the term sheet from JC Flowers, Yes Bank sought expressions of interest under the Swiss Challenge method, the deadline for which ended on Tuesday.
Emails sent to ARCIL and Cerberus Capital went unanswered.
Under Swiss Challenge for Yes Bank’s bad loan sale, only an ARC can make the counter-offer, and the bid must be at least 5% higher than the anchor bidder’s.
This means that since anchor bidder JC Flowers ARC had offered ₹11,183 crore, the ARCIL counter-bid is at least ₹11,750 crore. JC Flowers ARC can still match the ARCIL counter-offer by mid-September.
