Jaypee insolvency: NBCC sweetens bid, to offer up to 1,903 acres land to lenders

NEW DELHI: State-owned NBCC Ltd has sweetened its bid and will offer up to 1,903 acre land parcels to lenders as against the earlier offer of 1,526 acres to acquire Jaypee Infratech through the insolvency process.

Earlier this month, NBCC and Mumbai-based Suraksha group submitted their fresh bids to acquire Jaypee Infratech through the insolvency process, as per the direction of the Supreme Court.

According to sources, a meeting of committee of creditors (CoC) was held on Thursday to discuss the bids of both the parties.

NBCC has revised its bid to offer up to 1,903 acre land parcels, mainly in Noida and Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

Sources said the process of finding the buyer for Jaypee Infratech may not be completed by the first week of May as the financial creditors are yet to decide on voting.

The resolution process may have to extended in that case, they said.

On Yamuna Expressway, NBCC has proposed to offer 82 per cent equity in the road asset to lenders and it will retain 18 per cent share.

In the 2019 bid, it had proposed 100 per cent transfer of the highway.

In earlier meetings of the CoC, lenders had asked both the interested parties to improvise their bids and provide more land parcels under the land-debt swap deal.

This is the fourth round of bidding process in the matter of Jaypee Infratech, which went into insolvency proceedings in August 2017.

Last month, the Supreme Court remitted to the CoC the issue of approval of resolution plan for Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL), saying no new expression of interest would be entertained for taking over the firm and only NBCC and Suraksha Realty could file revised proposals.

The apex court also directed to extend the resolution process by 45 days.

In March last year, NBCC got approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to acquire Jaypee Infratech.

Homebuyers’ claim amounting to Rs 13,364 crore and lenders’ claim worth Rs 9,783 crore were admitted last year.

The order was, however, challenged in the appellate tribunal NCLAT and later in the Supreme Court.

Jaypee Infratech went into insolvency process in August 2017 after the NCLT admitted an application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium.

Anuj Jain was appointed as an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) to conduct the insolvency process and also manage the affairs of the company.

In the first round of insolvency proceeding, the Rs 7,350-crore bid of Lakshadweep, part of Suraksha Group, was rejected by lenders.

The CoC rejected the bids of Suraksha Realty and NBCC in the the second round held in May-June 2019.

The matter then reached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and then the apex court.

On November 6, 2019, the Supreme Court directed completion of Jaypee Infratech’s insolvency process within 90 days and ordered that the revised resolution plan to be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha Realty.

In December 2019, the CoC comprising 13 banks and around 21,000 homebuyers, approved the resolution plan of NBCC with 97.36 per cent vote in favour in the third round of bidding process.