Higher than Torrent’s Rs 8,640 cr in recent e-auction
Upping the ante, the Hinduja Group on Friday revised its bid for debt-laden Reliance Capital (RCap) with a net present value (NPV) offer of ₹9,000 crore, higher than Torrent Group’s bid of ₹8,640 crore.
However, the revised bid offer was made after the e-auctions ended on Wednesday, which according to Torrent is a “blatant and arbitrary violation” of the challenge process.
Hindujas’ renewed offer, which was made through a group company IndusInd International Holdings, comprises an upfront cash component of ₹8,800 crore. The Hinduja Group informed its decision at the committee of creditors’ (CoC’s) meeting on Friday, sources close to the development said.
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The CoC is slated to examine the offer and seek legal advice as the e-auction has already ended, they added.
During the e-auction, Hinduja Group was the only other bidder with a bid price close to about ₹8,500 crore.
Lenders KPMG (adviser to the insolvency process) and Deloitte (adviser to RBI-appointed administrator) are slated to meet soon to take a call on the revised bid.
However, Torrent is likely to object to the new bid, and if necessary, would take legal actions.
Torrent Group, in a late evening communication to RCap administrator and CoC, said that there is no provision to accept a non-compliant submission of revised bids.
“Having conducted the challenge process and having concluded it by communicating the highest NPV amount through the email (to Torrent), the administrator and CoC have determined and concluded the value maximisation process. It is, therefore, patently illegal for the administrator and CoC to entertain any bid which comes after conclusion of the challenge process and in deviation to the financial proposal submitted by such resolution applicant during the challenge process,” a letter by Torrent Group said.
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According to the deadline set by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), RCap’s resolution should be closed by January 31. This had also prevented the CoC from extending the e-auction deadline.
Bids for RCap’s assets were reduced to a two-horse race after Oaktree Capital stayed away from the e-auction and the Cosmea Financial and Piramal Group consortium had pulled out earlier on Tuesday, the eve of the e-bidding date.
Lenders had termed Oaktree’s demands as impractical and rejected them earlier.
On December 13, the CoC had hiked the auction base price by nearly 25% to Rs 6,500 crore from the initial Rs 5,231 crore, which was the highest bid placed by the Cosmea-Piramal consortium.
