Srei cos administrator apprises lenders about status of resolution process

The administrator of two Srei group companies, in the first meeting of the committee of creditors on Tuesday, apprised them about the status of the firms' corporate insolvency resolution process, as per regulatory filings.

Last month, the Reserve Bank had superseded the boards of Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd (SEFL) and appointed Rajneesh Sharma as the administrator of the two crisis-ridden firms.

Post this, RBI appointed a three-member advisory committee to assist Sharma in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of the two Srei group companies.

On October 8, the Reserve Bank (RBI) bank had filed applications for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against SIFL and SEFL at the Kolkata Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

"We wish to inform you that the 1st (first) meeting of the Committee of Creditors of the company was duly convened and conducted on Tuesday, 2nd November, 2021 at 11 :00 A.M. in Kolkata," SIFL said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

In a similarly worded exchange filing, SEFL said the first meeting of the committee of creditors of the company was convened on Tuesday at 2 PM.

"At the aforesaid meeting, the administrator of the company apprised the Committee of Creditors about the status of CIRP since the initiation, composition of committee of creditors based on the claims received, various aspects relating to the CIRP, going concern operations of the company and the way forward in terms of the activities/milestones as stipulated under the code," they said in their respective exchange filings.

The corporate insolvency resolution process has been initiated in both the companies under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016.

Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd (SIFL) is the parent company of SEFL.

The economic stress caused due to the pandmeic led to an asset-liability mismatch in the Srei group, which resulted in the bankers taking control of the finances of Srei in order to recover their dues.

Srei group, which mainly caters to the MSME and infrastructure sectors, owes around Rs 18,000 crore to around 15 lenders, including Axis Bank, UCO Bank and State Bank of India, and has another nearly Rs 10,000 crore of external commercial borrowings and bonds.

The Bombay High Court on October 7 had dismissed Srei group's plea against the RBI action on SIFL and SEFL.