Ruchi Soya case: Lenders to meet on Friday to consider Patanjali's offer

Lenders of debt-ridden Ruchi Soya will meet on Friday to consider the revised bid of Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved to acquire Madhya Pradesh-based edible oil firm, according to sources.

Patanjali had last month increased its bid value by around Rs 200 crore to Rs 4,350 crore for bankruptcy-bound Ruchi Soya. Adani Wilmar, which emerged as the highest bidder in August last year after a long drawn battle with Patanjali, had withdrawn from the race citing delay in completion of the insolvency process. In December 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had referred Ruchi Soya for insolvency proceedings on the application of creditors Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank. Shailendra Ajmera was appointed as resolution professional (RP) to manage the affairs of the company and undertake insolvency process.

According to sources, a meeting of Committee of Creditors (CoC) is scheduled on Friday to discuss the revised bid of Patanjali. Ruchi Soya has a total debt of about Rs 12,000 crore. The debt-ridden firm has many manufacturing plants and its leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Gold.

"We have revised our bid to Rs 4,350 crore from earlier offer of Rs 4,160 crore. We are ready to bail out Ruchi Soya which has the biggest infrastructure for soyabean. It's a national asset," Patanjali spokesperson S K Tijarawala had said last month.

The decision to increase the bid was taken in the interest of all stakeholders including farmers and consumers, he had said.

Before withdrawing from the race, Adani Wilmar had in December last year written to the RP regarding significant delays in resolution process that led to deterioration of Ruchi Soya's assets.

Adani Wilmar had said the process was getting delayed as Patanjali moved the NCLT Mumbai.

Patanjali Ayurved had approached NCLT challenging the decision of Ruchi Soya's lenders to approve Adani Wilmar's Rs 6,000 crore takeover bid. Patanjali group came second with around Rs 5,700 crore bid, including the infusion of about Rs 1,700 crore in the edible oil company.