Adani Infra Shows Interest in Acquiring Jaypee Infratech

As the debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech (JIL) goes through another round of bidding after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) extended its resolution process by another 90 days, Adani Infrastructure and the state-run NBCC seem to be among the front-runners to bid for the company and its projects.

The appellate tribunal in its July 30 order said the bidding process and approval by the committee of creditors (CoC) should be completed within 45 days from the receipt of the order and the rest of the 45 days would be needed for approval by the NCLAT.

Adani Infrastructure, an Adani Group company, has shown interest in bidding for the company and its counsel appealed for acceptance of its bid during the recent NCLAT hearing. The appellate tribunal didn't consider its request but said it could again submit its bid as fresh bids would be invited.

In its latest order the two-judge Bench, headed by S.J. Mukhopadhaya, said: "We have given the opportunity to all the eligible persons to file 'expression of interest'/(improved) 'resolution plan', individually or jointly, or in concert with any person."

The Bench, however, barred Jayprakash Associates, the parent company of JIL, from filing any resolution plan.

The state-run construction major NBCC whose previous bid was rejected by the CoC is likely to present a fresh bid after the Bench said it could file a "fresh improved" resolution plan.

Although NBCC sources said the company would like to go ahead with a bid, it's unlikely to relent on conditions over which the lenders voted against its plan.

In its previous bid the NBCC had sought cancellation of an estimated Rs 33,000 crore income tax liability due over 30 years under the concession agreement for the transfer of land from the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) to JIL.

The NBCC also sought relief from taking consent of the YEIDA for any business transfer between JIL and Yamuna Expressway SPV for transfer of assets as well as land parcels from JIL.

These two conditions were opposed by the JIL lenders, who in turn voted against the bid and NBCC's resolution could not make the cut in the last round of voting.

It would be interesting to see how the public sector enterprise goes about with the conditions this time around.