Separately, the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL), the highest bidder, is awaiting clarity on the payment terms from its owner, the government, on the acquisition of the twin Srei companies. This has also delayed the voting process.
Srei’s administrator, Rajnish Sharma, had invited lenders to vote on the three plans – National Asset Reconstruction Company NARCL, Authum Investment and Infrastructure, and Arena Investors – Varde Partners team. Originally, the voting was scheduled to start from January 16.
Most lenders favour NARCL, the government-promoted bad bank that gave the highest offer of Rs 5,555 crore on a net present value (NVP) basis.
The administrator of Srei Infrastructure Finance and Srei Equipment Finance did not respond to ET’s request for comment.
Nabard, a nodal agency that channels government subsidy toward agricultural finance to regional rural banks and commercial banks, has verified claims of Rs 884 crore. It has petitioned with the tribunal that it has exclusive charge over some of the assets to Srei Equipments.
Nabard has filed a petition with bankruptcy court stating that it does not want to alienate its security, said a senior official involved in the sale process. It has claimed that it is entitled to a higher share of proceeds since it has superior security.Authum Investments has offered Rs 5,526 crore, while Arena-Varde team offered Rs 4,682 crore at the auction on January 3. However, a day later Arena-Varde team improved their offer to Rs 4832 crore. All offers are on a net present value basis (NPV) basis which is arrived at by discounting future cash flows.
If NARCL receives the highest votes, it would be the first acquisition of an insolvent company by the government-owned asset reconstruction company (ARC) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). In October, the central bank allowed ARCs with Rs 1,000 crore in net owned funds to bid for companies under the IBC, which made NARCL an eligible bidder. Prior to this, ARCs were not allowed to give plans under bankruptcy law.
The administrator has admitted Rs 32,750 crore in claims from verified creditors. The offer by NARCL will equate to a recovery of 17% on an NPV basis.