The bankruptcy court has approved the resolution plan submitted by Prakash Asphaltings & Toll Highways (India) Ltd for Rajahmundry Godavari Bridge Ltd (RGBL). The bridge, built on the river Godavari, connects Rajahmundry and Kovvur in Andhra Pradesh.
The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) gave its nod after the lenders approved the revival plan with 100% voting in its favour.
The resolution professional had received claims of more than Rs 985 crore in the case, while the successful resolution plan proposed a total consideration of Rs 452 crore for the company.
“It (resolution plan) shall be binding on the corporate debtor, its employees, members, creditors, including the central government, any state government or any local authority to whom a debt in respect of the payment of dues arising under any law for the time being,” the division bench, presided by HV Subba Rao and Anuradha Bhatia, said in its order of August 10. “It shall become effective from this date and shall form part of this order.”
The Union Bank of India had approached the tribunal after the company defaulted on its dues of about Rs 184 crore to the lender. On February 27, 2020, the tribunal admitted the company under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) and appointed Vishal Ghisulal Jain as the resolution professional.
In 2008, Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd had formed a special purpose vehicle, RGBL, for undertaking the implementation of the Godavari Bridge Toll Project on a build, operate and transfer-toll basis.
Advocate Pulkit Sharma, along with firm Saraf & Partners, appeared for the resolution professional of the company and informed the tribunal that originally they had received nine expressions of interest for RGBL.
However, apart from Prakash Asphaltings & Toll Highways (India), only four other bidders –Kochi Aroor Tollways, Kalyan Toll Infrastructure, PNC Infratech and GR Infraprojects – submitted their resolution plan.
As per the company’s website, the bridge has a total length of 4.15 km and the length of the total corridor is about 14.48 km. The total cost of construction of the bridge was more than Rs 1,114 crore.
Approving the resolution plan of Prakash Asphaltings & Toll Highways (India), in a separate order, the tribunal rejected an application filed by BSE-listed AJR Infra and Tolling Ltd, formerly known as Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd.
AJR Infra & Tolling had sought the tribunal’s intervention to direct the lenders to consider its plan for the resolution of RGBL. The company was willing to pay Rs 435 crore for the company.
However, while rejecting the application of the former promoters, the tribunal observed that it has no power to give any directions to the lenders to consider the compromise proposal submitted by AJR Infra & Tolling as it is the exclusive domain of the committee of creditors.
