Creditors to the former Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) controlled Lavasa township have received two bids for their Rs 6,000 crore loans outstanding in a third round of bids for the debt-laden company.
Two bids from Alchemist ARC president Srishti Dhir along with her brother
Dhir and little known Darwin Projects are being considered by lenders, three people familiar with the bids said.
Srishti Dhir confirmed that she has bid in her personal capacity in association with her brother Madhav. Srishti is the elder child of Alchemist ARC promoter Alok Dhir. Darwin Projects could not be reached.
“Both bids are on the condition that the project will receive environmental clearance that has been the main reason this account turned into an NPA. It makes them weak. Creditors will consider them but the conditional nature and huge haircut make the bids unattractive in the present form,” said one of the three persons cited above.
Darwin has bid Rs 750 crore while the Dhirs have bid Rs 550 crore, which means the bids are at 88% and 91% haircuts, respectively. The upfront cash offered by both bidders is less than Rs 100 crore, making it less attractive for creditors.
ET’s queries to Lavasa’s Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) Shailesh Verma remained unanswered.
Lenders met on Wednesday to consider the bids and are most likely to ask both bidders to reconsider their conditions, put more cash on the table and compress their future payment timelines after taking views of other lenders in the coming days.
(UBI) is the lead lender in the project with an outstanding loan of Rs 600 crore. Other lenders include Bank of India, Axis Bank, Punjab National Bank and State Bank of India. L&T Finance, the NBFC from the engineering to IT L&T group, is also a creditor along with asset reconstruction companies Arcil, Edelweiss, and Acre.
Lenders have been frustrated with the multiple pullbacks by bidders since the account was taken to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in 2018.
In November last year, ET reported that three bids were being considered including one from a Pune-based realty developer Anirudh Deshpande and a Dubai-based fund. Before that, Haldiram Snacks and Oberoi Realty had bid in late 2019, but pulled back later citing uncertainties due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Lenders do not have high hopes from current bids. “Environmental clearance is the main deterrent for this project and until it gets resolved, things will not move,” a second person cited above said.
Srishti Dhir acknowledged the challenge facing the project but expressed confidence that she will be able to work with the authorities to sort things out. Besides completing the existing flats and villas, Dhir plans to also launch a hotel in the property in partnership with a reputed brand.
It remains to be seen whether creditors will want to settle this account through the NCLT as Lavasa is also earmarked to be sold to the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARC).
Set up in 2000 by the Ajit Gulabchand-led Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), Lavasa was developing the country’s first privately developed city spread over 20,000 acres in Mulshi and Velhe areas in Maharashtra’s Pune district.
