State-owned NBCCNSE -0.50 % is seen to be ahead in the race to acquire Jaypee InfratechNSE 4.00 % under the insolvency resolution plan. The public sector construction company NSE -1.25 % has filed a higher financial bid than Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company, the only other player left in the fray. The bids were opened on Saturday.
The two bidders will make detailed presentations before Jaypee’s financial creditors, including homebuyers, on Monday. The final resolution could take close to a month as lenders will rate the two bidders’ plans on several parameters. If the vote goes through, it will finally settle one of the most closely watched insolvency cases in the country.
Sources told TOI NBCC has offered to make an upfront payment of Rs 1,000 crore to lenders led by IDBI BankNSE -4.23 %, which had extended loans to the tune of Rs 9,800 crore to the project. It has also earmarked Rs 2,150 crore for homebuyers apart from retiring bank loans of Rs 3,000 crore through land deals with the lenders. A key element of the plan is the hive-off of Taj Expressway as a separate firm. This will help raise Rs 2,000 crore of fresh debt, from which Rs 1,000 crore will go to homebuyers and the remaining will go to lenders — reducing the loan servicing burden.
Apart from the housing project, Jaypee Infratech owns Taj Expressway and Japyee Hospital. The expressway generates toll revenues.
The other bidder, Suraksha ARC, has offered Rs 10 crore upfront to the banks, with Rs 3,000 crore earmarked for homebuyers. It also proposes to repay loans worth Rs 5,000 crore through a debt-asset swap. It plans to complete construction of flats in three years, with over half the remaining apartments (of around 20,000) to be handed over in two years. On this count, it scores better than NBCC which is looking to complete the project in four years.
In May 2018, Suraksha’s Rs 7,350-crore bid for Jaypee was rejected for being below liquidation value.
Jaypee Infratech is among the dozen high-value cases identified by the government and RBI in June 2017 for resolution via the insolvency process. So far, five cases have been resolved, while the government is working to ensure that the remaining seven are also settled by March 2019.
Unlike the other cases where liquidation is an option in case the resolution process is not successful, a Supreme Court order has meant that liquidation is not an option in the case of Jaypee.
Source: Economic Times