Thousands of Jaypee lenders, homebuyers vote on sole bid by Suraksha Realty

Jaypee Infratech went into insolvency proceedings after the NCLT had in 2017 admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking resolution of debt-laden firm

Left with no option, thousands of home buyers as well as financial creditors of debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech are voting on the offer submitted by Suraksha Realty, the lone player in the race to acquire the Jaypee group realty firm.

Suraksha Realty-led consortium is the only player left in the race to acquire Jaypee Infratech after a lenders' panel decided not to put NBCC's bid to vote. The voting process kicked off on Tuesday (April 30) and is scheduled to end on May 3.

Meanwhile, home-buyers are planning to write to Jaypee Infratech's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain for including NBCC's bid in voting process after the public sector firm got approvals from various government departments for its revised offer.

Some of the home buyers complained of technical glitches in voting portals and also mentioned difficulties faced by old and not so tech-savvy people.

"The voting portal was down on Tuesday. Our old passwords are not working. While the banks use CDSL portal, we home buyers are forced to use a third party unsecure site," said Ranjeet Jha, a home buyer of Jaypee Infratech.

Prakash Chawla, another buyer, said: "With NBCC getting approval from authorities, there is anxiety among home buyers who would now want IRP to start fresh voting process".

Jaypee Infratech, a subsidiary of Jaypee group's flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates, went into insolvency proceedings after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had in 2017 admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking resolution of debt laden firm.
 

In the first round of insolvency proceeding, Lakshdeep -- part of Suraksha group -- had emerged as the highest bidder with Rs 7,350 crore offer but the same was rejected by the lenders' panel as they found it to be lower than the company's net worth and assets as well as the liquidation value.

The IRP Jain had in October 2018 started a fresh initiative to revive Jaypee Infratech on the NCLT's direction.

In the second round, NBCC and Suraksha Realty were in contention initially but now the lenders have put to vote only latter's offer.

Suraksha Realty Ltd, in its revised bid, has offered lenders Rs 18.55 crore as upfront payment and land parcels worth Rs 5,000 crore to settle the debt. Jaypee Infratech owes nearly Rs 9,800 crore to financial creditors.

Mumbai-based Suraksha Realty has also proposed to infuse Rs 3,000 crore capital to complete construction of over 20,000 flats to home-buyers.

Jaiprakash Associates Ltd had submitted Rs 750 crore in the registry of the Supreme Court for the refund to buyers and the amount is lying with the NCLT.