NCLT extends Reliance Capital resolution process deadline to Jan 31

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has for the third time extended the deadline for debt-ridden Reliance Capital's resolution process to January 31.

The earlier deadline was November 1, 2022.

This is the third extension as the timeline has been extended twice in the past, sources said.

As per the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) rules, the administrator had to originally close the resolution of RCL within 180 days, by June 3, 2022.

Earlier, the lenders of Reliance Capital had given an extension of 30 days to the bidders for submission of binding bids, along with an EMD of Rs 75 crore, by October 31.

The bidders were not happy with this 30 days extension as most of them had sought an extension by 2-4 months.

Reliance Capital had received 14 non-binding bids for its multiple businesses. Six companies had submitted bids for the entire company, while the rest of the bidders had submitted bids for its multiple subsidiaries.

Two options are available for the bidders. The first, bidders are required to submit bids for the entire RCL and in the second one, they have the choice to bid for specific verticals of the company.

Torrent, IndusInd Bank, Oaktree, Cosmea Financial, Authum Investment, and B Right Real Estate have submitted bids in the range of Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 4,500 crore for Reliance Capital's entire assets, the sources said.

For Reliance General Insurance business, Piramal Finance has offered Rs 3,600 crore, while Zurich Insurance's bid is at Rs 3,700 crore, the sources said, adding third bidder Advent has offered Rs 7,000 crore.

Jindal Steel and Power and UVARC have submitted bids for Reliance Capital's ARC business.

For other assorted assets of Reliance Capital, three bidders - Choice Equity, Global Fincap and Grand Bhawan have submitted the bids, the sources said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 29 last year superseded the board of RCL in view of payment defaults and serious governance issues.

The RBI appointed Nageswara Rao Y as the administrator in relation to the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the firm. Reliance Capital is the third large non-banking financial company (NBFC) against which the central bank has initiated bankruptcy proceedings under the IBC.

The other two were Srei Group NBFC and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL). The RBI subsequently filed an application for initiation of CIRP against the company at the Mumbai bench of the NCLT.

In February this year, the RBI-appointed administrator invited expressions of interest for the sale of Reliance Capital.