Voting on Suraksha offer for Jaypee Infra deferred; bidders get more time

Committee of Creditors gives Suraksha and NBCC India seven days to file revised bids.

Just hours before lenders were to take up Suraksha Group’s resolution plan for the acquisition of Jaypee Infratech (JIL) for voting, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) decided to give both bidders — Suraksha and NBCC India — one more chance to submit revised bids at an urgent meeting held on Monday.
 
The fresh bidding will be subject to voting by all CoC members this week.
 
Both Suraksha Group and NBCC India are in the race to buy the assets of JIL, which defaulted on Rs 22,000 crore of loans and was sent for debt resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in August 2017.
 
Last week, the CoC decided to send the Suraksha Group’s offer for voting after the Mumbai-based group offered Rs 1,700 crore more to lenders than NBCC India.
 
NBCC India’s proposal was rejected by the CoC as it found that the offer was not compliant with IBC norms and the Supreme Court’s order. But NBCC sent an addendum to its earlier offer and sought more time from the lenders late on Friday.
 
The meeting was called again on Monday and both bidders were given seven days’ time to file revised bids. The CoC also called for a vote on May 28 on the extension to be given to both NBCC and Suraksha to file revised bids and tie-break formula for voting.

 
Depending on the results, if revised bids are not allowed by CoC, Suraksha’s plan will be put to vote and. If revised bids are allowed, both have to file their bids by June 4.
 
The next CoC meeting will be held on June 7 and the IRP will seek another 30 days extension from the Supreme Court. The apex court had ordered on March 24 that the entire process be completed within 45 days.
 
Jaypee Infratech owns huge tracts of land on both sides of the Delhi-Agra Yamuna Expressway, apart from the expressway itself. Suraksha had offered Rs 6,984 crore to all the creditors, while NBCC had offered Rs 5,284 crore. As there were several conditions to NBCC’s offer, including zero coupon, 21-year tenure of NCDs, its offer was rejected by private banks. The PSU banks favour allowing NBCC to make a revised offer.