New twist in Reliance Capital’s auction process, company to challenge NCLT order in Supreme Court.
A new twist seems to be coming in the auction process of debt-ridden company Reliance Capital. The company is now planning to challenge in the Supreme Court the decision of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which held Torrent Investments as the highest bidder for the firm. People aware of the matter told this to Moneycontrol. In fact, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Reliance Capital had demanded a fresh re-bidding for the company, which was turned down by the NCLT in an order on February 2. The NCLT, in its order, termed conducting fresh bidding as a violation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). A source said, “Torrent Investments had made a bid of Rs 8,640 crore for the company. While Hinduja Group had bid Rs 400 crore more, ie Rs 9,000 crore. We will go with Hinduja.” Reliance Capital’s lenders earlier planned to conduct a second round of bidding to enable them to get a better value for the company’s assets. Torrent Investments was the highest bidder for Reliance Capital at Rs 8,640 crore in the first auction that concluded in December. Also read- Strong rally of 18% in shares of Apar Industries today, stock has climbed 42% in two days, what is the reason? The CoC later received an offer of Rs 9,000 crore from Hinduja Group, which was higher than Torrent Investment’s bid. Following this, the CoC wanted to conduct a second round of bidding for Reliance Capital. Reliance Capital has a total exposure of about Rs 40,000 crore to the consortium of lenders. On January 25, lenders to Reliance Capital moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) challenging the NCLT order to maintain status quo on the company’s insolvency proceedings. The lenders argued that the NCLT was not permitted under the Rules to order an interim stay.