Suraksha Group seeks more time to submit final bid for Jaypee Infratech

NEW DELHI: Suraksha Group has sought at least seven days’ extension to submit an “improved revised” bid to acquire debt-laden Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL) through insolvency as it is exploring ways to sweeten its offer for both homebuyers and lenders.

The Mumbai-based firm, which is pitted against NBCC to acquire JIL, did not submit its resolution plan on June 4 and rather sought at least seven-day extension to sweeten its offer for homebuyers and bankers.

NBCC, however, submitted its resolution plan. It is up to financial creditors now to decide whether Suraksha should be given the extension or not.

In a letter to Interim Resolution Plan (IRP) Anuj Jain on Friday, Suraksha Group asserted that it had already submitted a legally compliant resolution plan on May 18 and the bid was deliberated upon in the meeting of the CoC (Committee of Creditors).

Suraksha said it plans to further revise the resolution plan to improve offering for both homebuyers and bankers, considering that the CoC has already decided to seek extension of timelines for completion of the insolvency process from the Supreme Court.

“…we are evaluating the possibility of revision in our resolution plan so as to incorporate better terms for homebuyers including further reduction in the project completion timelines, reviving and expediting construction work immediately after the CoC approval as well as infusion of funds for the same,” the letter said.

The company said it is also evaluating on possibility of improving the resolution plan as regards the lenders. This could include provision of timelines for monetisation of land.

“The said evaluation with respect to reduction in completion timelines and land monetisation timelines, being complex involves considerable time and efforts especially in current pandemic situation,” the letter said.

Stating that the company had never asked for any extension before and always submitted bid ahead of deadline, Suraksha said: “We request you to grant us time of at least 7 days to submit an improved revised resolution plan, in the interest of lenders and homebuyers.”

In the May 18 bid, Suraksha Group had offered over 2,600 acre land to bankers and promised homebuyers to complete the pending over 20,000 flats in 42 months. Yamuna Expressway that connects Greater Noida to Agra will be retained by the company as per the bid.

Last week, financial creditors of embattled JIL decided to give time till June 4 to NBCC and Suraksha Group to submit their final bids.

The two-day voting process, which began on May 27, was conducted to decide whether a further extension should be given to both the contenders.

In its meeting held on May 24, the CoC of JIL decided to defer the voting process on the Suraksha Group’s bid and conduct voting process for allowing both parties to submit their final offers.

On May 20 meet, the CoC had decided to put Suraksha Group to vote and rejected NBCC’s bid citing non-compliance related to its proposal for dissenting creditors.

NBCC had protested against its bid being declared as non-compliant.

This is the fourth round of the bidding process in the matter of JIL bankruptcy case.

JIL went into the insolvency process in August 2017 after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted an application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium.

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

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

In November 2019, the Supreme Court directed that the JIL insolvency process be completed within 90 days and ordered that the revised bids be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha.

Then, in December 2019, the CoC approved the resolution plan of NBCC with a 97.36 per cent vote in favour during the third round of the bidding process. In March 2020, NBCC had got approval from NCLT to acquire JIL.

However, the order was challenged before NCLAT and later in the Supreme Court, which on March 24 this year, ordered that fresh bids should be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha.

The apex court had also directed that the resolution process be completed in 45 days, which lapsed on May 8 and an application has been filed to extend the timeline for finding a buyer for JIL.