Lenders to troubled Ballarpur Industries to meet on January 18

Lenders to troubled Ballarpur Industries Ltd (BILT) will meet on January 18 ahead of the application for the company’s liquidation, which will be heard by the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal bench on January 25, 2022. The financial creditors’ admitted claims are just over ~3,100 crore.

“A meeting of the Committee of Creditors of the company has been convened on Tuesday, (18th January, 2022),” BILT informed the BSE.

On January 6, the company informed the BSE that the NCLT will now hear its liquidation application on January 25, as the one scheduled for January 3 could not take place.

Bankers said there was just one application for liquidation and moving it was not the end of the road. The resolution process could also look at selling the entity as a going concern.

The corporate insolvency resolution process for BILT under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 commenced after the NCLT passed an order on January 17, 2020.

The company manufactures writing and printing paper, copier paper, water-marked paper, food-grade paper, etc, and it has one integrated paper manufacturing facility at Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, and a rayon-grade wood pulp facility at Kamalapuram, Telangana.

BILT has so far submitted its audited standalone financial results for the quarter and year ended March 2020. It is making efforts to complete the filings for the subsequent quarters.

The company's net worth is negative as on the reporting date, and it continues to incur heavy losses. There is persistent severe strain on working capital, which has resulted in considerable decline in the level of the company's operations.

The resolution professional is expected to make every effort to preserve the value of the property and manage the operations as a going concern. The ability of the company to continue as a going concern is dependent on successful completion of the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP). Pending the outcome of the CIRP, the standalone financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.