Adani submits non-binding bid for Jaypee Infra; offers Rs 1,700 cr to complete housing projects

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New Delhi: Business conglomerate Adani group has made an unsolicited and non-binding bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech and is ready to infuse up to Rs 1,700 crore to expedite the construction of stuck housing projects of the debt-laden realty firm and deliver flats to home buyers, sources said.

Adani has promised to infuse another Rs 1,000 crore in two equal tranches of Rs 500 crore each to settle claims of workmen as well as secured and unsecured financial creditors, besides meeting cost for insolvency proceedings.

It will also transfer 1,000 acre land to bankers to swap debt with assets.

Adani group had participated in the first round of insolvency process but did not bid in the current round within the fixed timeframe.

However, the group later expressed interest to bid for Jaypee Infratech, the subsidiary of Jaypee group's flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates.

Now, Adani Infrastructure and Developers Pvt Ltd has submitted an "unsolicited" and "non-binding" resolution plan to Jaypee Infratech's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain, sources said.

The IRP has called a meeting of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) Thursday for further discussion on the resolution plan submitted by state-owned NBCC.

The consideration of Adani's bid is not on the agenda of the CoC meet, sources said, but added that lenders and home buyers could decide to take up discussion on the offer during the meeting.

In its bid, Adani group has offered to "infuse an amount of up to Rs 1,700 crore for the purpose of expediting the construction of the real estate projects of the company and delivery of the possession of the same to the home buyers".

On penalty/interest for possession delay, Adani has offered to pay 25 per cent of such amount to buyers, as mutually agreed, in respect of penalties/ interest payable to home buyers as accrued on August 9, 2017, the date when Jaypee Infratech went bankrupt.

If the Supreme Court and National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) permit, the amount of Rs 750 crore deposited by Jaiprakash Associates Ltd for protection of home buyers could also be utilised for payment of balance penalties/interest, Adani said in its offer.

However, Adani said that its proposals are subject to confirmatory due diligence review by the company. After the due diligence, it will specify timelines for the delivery of possession as well as seek reliefs and waivers.

In August 2017, Jaypee Infratech went into insolvency process after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted an application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking revival of the realty firm.

In the first round of insolvency proceedings conducted last year, the Rs 7,350-crore bid of Lakshdeep, part of Suraksha Group, was rejected by lenders.

Later in October 2018, the IRP started the second round of the bidding process to revive Jaypee Infratech on the NCLT's direction. NBCC and Mumbai-based Suraksha Realty submitted their bids to acquire Jaypee Infratech.

Earlier this month, the CoC rejected the bid by Suraksha Realty through a voting process. The panel then decided to put on vote NBCC's offer even as bankers were opposed to this move citing certain conditions imposed by the public sector firm in its bid.

On the bankers' plea, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had on May 17, annulled voting by home buyers and lenders on NBCC's bid and allowed renegotiation on the offer by May 30. The voting process on NBCC's bid could start from May 31.