MUMBAI: Lenders have decided to hold the second round of auction for Reliance Capital on January 19. However, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will hear the plea of Torrent Investments opposing the second round of auction on Thursday.
“A note circulated to the bidders by the administrator states that the second round of auction will be held on January 19. According to the note, changes to the financial proposal after the auction are not allowed. The base bid is set at Rs 9,500 crore in net present value terms with the minimum Rs 8,000 crore in cash component,” said a source. “All stakeholders will be closely monitoring the NCLT hearing scheduled on January 12,” he added.
The NCLT hearing today will have many well-known names. Harish Salve and Abhishek Manu Singhvi represent the Hinduja group, Kapil Sibal represents the committee of creditors, Ravi Kadam represents the administrator, and Darius Khambata and Vikram Nankani represent the Torrent Group.
In its plea to the tribunal, Ahmedabad-based Torrent Group claimed that Hinduja’s revised offer, after the e-auction, was illegal and non-compliant. In the first round, Torrent had emerged highest bidder with Rs 8,640 crore as its offer but Hinduja had subsequently revised its offer to about Rs 9,000 crore. Torrent said allowing the process's challenge to be reopened violates the process and of the rules and spirit of IBC. So far, all offers for RCap have been below the Rs 12,500-Rs 13,000 crore liquidation value.