GAIL offers winning bid for IL&FS wind assets, with no haircut for lenders

Quotes price of Rs 4,800 crore for 873 Mw assets; proposal unanimously approved by CoC

Natural gas distribution major GAIL India Limited emerged as the highest bidder for the wind assets of debt-ridden IL&FS Group. GAIL quoted an offer price of Rs 4,800 crore for 873 MW of wind power assets, IL&FS said in a public statement.

“GAIL’s offer of approximately Rs 4,800 crore for 100 per cent of enterprise value contemplates no hair-cut to the debt of the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) aggregating to approximately Rs 3,700 crore. The proposal was unanimously approved by the Committee of Creditors of IL&FS Wind Energy Limited (IWEL), majority owner of the SPVs,” the company statement said.

GAIL spokesperson was unavailable to confirm on the same.

IL&FS further said that engagement with ORIX Japan, the  other shareholder in the SPVs, with regards to  the proposal is "currently  in progress". The offer price of GAIL matches to the average tariff rate of Rs 5.49 per unit of the projects. 

IL&FS said the deal closure is expected in three weeks. 

"The sale proceeds, as and when realised by IWEL, shall be held in trust for distribution to the relevant  stakeholders, in accordance with the Resolution Framework filed with the NCLAT by the Union of India,” it said.

Conclusion of the sale process would also be subject to approval of Justice (Retd.) D K Jain and NCLT in accordance with the Resolution Framework.

The new board, as part of the overall resolution process for IL&FS Group has initiated sale of a number of Group assets, addressing a significant portion of Group’s debt. “Sale processes for assets including education, funds, roads and thermal power plant are currently underway and binding financial bids are expected for these companies/businesses in stages by May 2019,” said the company.