Adani Infrastructure and Development (AIDPL), which in April evinced interest in acquiring Jaypee Infratech’s (JIL) assets, earlier this week said if it is allowed to take over the cash-strapped real estate developer, the company will complete the pending housing projects in four years in a phased manner. This is the second time Adani group has shown interest in acquiring JIL’s assets.
Sources said during the last meeting of JIL’s committee of creditors (CoC) on June 20, Adani group subsidiary’s offer was discussed and it was decided that resolution professional (RP) Anuj Jain would inquire from AIDPL about completion timeline.
Since NBCC’s revised bid has been rejected by CoC, the panel in all likelihood will issue fresh expressions of interest (EoIs) for JIL, but it will be based on the outcome of the July 2 hearing at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) on the plea filed by the lead banker to JIL, IDBI Bank.
Jain informed CoC that the Adani group is still interested in participating in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) and has been in regular touch with him. It is also actively following up on its EoI, said one of the sources. “Legal adviser of bankers and financial institutions (secured financial creditors), Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) urged Jain to inquire from AIDPL about its position on construction timelines for various housing projects to which RP agreed and asked AIDPL for the construction timelines so that homebuyers could get more clarity,” the source added.
In its submission, AIDPL said it requires six months for mobilising resources from the date of taking over JIL’s projects and the remaining 14 quarters would be needed to complete the housing units, including the hand over to homebuyers.
When contacted, an Adani group spokesperson did not offer any response.
AIDPL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Properties, which in turn is held by the Adani family. It is engaged in real estate and is the holding firm for various real estate special purpose vehicles of the Adani group.
At the June 20 CoC meeting, representatives from IDBI bank proposed that in case NBCC’s revised bid is not approved by the CoC, there should be an option for a fresh EoI to gauge market interest.
Asked for clarifications on issuing fresh EoIs, CAM said such a step would not amount to a breach of the NCLAT order as EOI is being issued to gauge interest and is not going to be binding, said another source. “CAM said since AIDPL already has shown interest through its unsolicited non-binding offer and there might be other interested parties too. Hence, their assessing market response should not be an issue,” he added.
CAM lawyers added that application for exclusion of elapsed period for purpose of calculating the time period of CIRP is also pending with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and there are “good grounds” to seek the same and CoC may get more time to run the process of fresh EOI.
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Some of the lenders, including IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and Axis Bank, were in favour of issuing a fresh EoI if it was legally viable. The rest wanted to wait for the outcome of the July 2 hearing at NCLAT.
Jain suggested that although there is no legal bar in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) or going by the NCLAT order to explore more avenues, it would be proper not to issue a fresh EoI as the result of the voting on NBCC’s revised resolution plan is yet to be placed before the NCLAT and considered by it. He recommended to wait till July 2, which was agreed by the CoC.
