The government’s construction arm NBCC and Suraksha Group are expected to submit their revised bids under an insolvency process to acquire debt-laden realty firm Jaypee Infratech by May 18. The two plans would be discussed at the 21st committee of creditors (CoC) meeting likely to be held on May 19, sources said.
The Jaypee Infratech case involves more than 20,000 homebuyers who have been anxiously waiting for the completion of their homes for over a decade. The 20th committee of creditors meeting was held on May 15.
At the meeting held on Saturday, financial creditors, which includes representatives of lenders and homebuyers, discussed the two bids and sought various clarifications. Both NBCC and Suraksha have been asked to make necessary changes and submit their revised bids by tomorrow (May 18), sources said.
NBCC and Suraksha group had earlier submitted their revised bids on May 10.
Suraksha group has now offered a line of credit of Rs 3,000 crore as working capital for construction of projects as against the earlier proposal of Rs 2,000 crore, they said, adding it has also given an undertaking that any shortfall to the dissenting creditors will be met by pumping more funds or assets. It has offered to complete the pending units in 42 months.
A similar undertaking promising to do good all the claims of banks has been sought from NBCC.
NBCC is offering up to 1,903 acres of land while Surakasha group has proposed over 2,600 acres to the lenders. Suraksha group has earmarked 1,486 acres to dissenting lenders out of the total land parcels offered in the proposal.
NBCC has provided an additional 377 acres of land in case dissenting financial creditors are not satisfied with its original offer of 1,526 acre, taking its total offer to up to 1,903 acre. While Suraksha group has proposed to keep Yamuna Expressway road project, NBCC has offered to transfer over 80 percent of the stake in the project to the lenders.
It has incorporated some of the suggestions made by homebuyers on the resolution plan submitted by it on April 28, 2021. One of them includes tower wise schedule of delivery. They have shortened the delivery timelines and would be delivering 70 percent (around 13,000) of the units within 30 months. All units, including plots would be delivered within 42 months.
NBCC has also proposed to set up a single-window redressal system to help resolve grievances of homebuyers. The single-window redressal system would be put in place after the transfer date.
It has also considered homebuyers’ representative in the steering committee, sources said.
Earlier, the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain had approached the Supreme Court asking for an extension of the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) by a month.
In an application filed before the Supreme Court, the IRP has said that the completion of the resolution process within 45 days has become unfeasible due to the current surge in COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions imposed by different states, sources said.
The IRP had convened the 17th meeting of the CoC on April 12, 2021 to discuss the resolution plans submitted by NBCC and Suraksha. Both NBCC and Suraksha had submitted their revised resolution plans on April 28. In the 18th meeting of the CoC held on April 17, lenders had asked NBCC and Suraksha group to improve their bid and offer more land parcels under the land-debt swap deal. They had also asked the bidders to specify the treatment of dissenting financial creditors.
The 19th meeting of the CoC was convened on April 29, 2021.
Suraksha Group had held a meeting with homebuyers on May 2, 2021 and NBCC held one on May 7, 2021 for discussions/suggestions on the resolution plan of Jaypee Infratech.
On March 24, the Supreme Court had directed the interim resolution professional of Jaypee Infratech to invite modified or fresh resolution plans only from Suraksha Realty and state-run NBCC and complete insolvency proceedings in 45 days. The timeline ends on May 8.
The apex court had also said that Rs 750 crore deposited by Jaypee Associates would not go to Jaypee Infratech and that NBCC would not be allowed to utilise it for construction.
It had said, “However, the final treatment of the said amount of Rs 750 crores with accrued interest shall be determined by NCLT after the reconciliation of accounts between JAL and JIL and in terms of the directions contained in this judgment”.
Financial creditors of debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech, including banks and homebuyers, met on April 29 and held discussions on the revised resolution plans submitted by the two entities. The case involves more than 20,000 homebuyers who have been anxiously waiting for the completion of their homes for over a decade.
This is the fourth round of the corporate insolvency resolution process.
In November 2019, the top court had directed the completion of Jaypee Infratech's insolvency process within 90 days and the revised resolution plan to be invited only from the NBCC and Suraksha Realty.
The December 2019 round of voting was the third round of the bidding process to find a buyer for Jaypee Infratech, which went into the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) in August 2017.
NBCC had then proposed to complete over 20,000 pending flats in housing projects launched by Jaypee Infratech in Noida and Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh). Homebuyers' claims amounting to Rs 13,364 crore and lenders' claims worth Rs 9,783 crore were admitted.
In its bid in December 2019, NBCC had offered 1,526 acres of land to lenders under a land-debt swap deal. On Yamuna Expressway, NBCC has proposed to transfer the road asset to lenders but before that, it would take a loan of around Rs 2,500 crore against toll revenue to fund construction spend.
More than 10,000 homebuyers and major lenders of Jaypee Infratech, including IDBI Bank and State Bank of India, had voted in favour of the resolution plan submitted by the government's construction arm NBCC to acquire the embattled real estate firm. The CoC comprising 13 banks and around 21,000 homebuyers, approved the resolution plan of NBCC with a 97.36 percent vote in favour in the third round of the bidding process.
In the same round, Mumbai-based Suraksha Realty had improved its bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech by offering more land and upfront cash to lenders. It had increased its upfront payment to lenders to Rs 190 crore from Rs 175 crore, while size of the land-debt swap improved to 2,275 acres from 2,220 acres in its final bid submitted on December 3.