SBI sells loan of Atibir Industries to CFM ARC

State Bank of India has sold ₹341 crore of principal loan outstanding from bankrupt Atibir Industries to CFM Asset Reconstruction Company for ₹250 crore through a Swiss challenge auction held on Friday, two people close to the development said.

The all-cash sale indicates a recovery of 73 paise on a rupee of the principal amount outstanding for SBI.

The bank had informed interested bidders that it would auction the loan under the Swiss challenge method based on an anchor bid.

CFM ARC made the anchor bid and there were no counter bids, both people said.

"SBI had deferred the auction once," said one of the people. "It was earlier scheduled to be held on March 6 but was finally held on March 24, but no bidder showed interest."

A CFM ARC spokesperson declined to comment while an SBI spokesperson could not be reached immediately for comment.

During the auction, SBI stated that the challenger bid would be considered at a minimum 5% and maximum 15% markup over the base bid. The minimum markup was ₹12.50 crore (5% of the base bid of ₹250 crore).

Atibir Industries, incorporated in 2000 and promoted by Santosh Kumar Sarawgi of Jharkhand, is engaged in the manufacturing of sponge iron and pig iron, according to a Care Ratings report of 2021. The company also has pellets and sinters manufacturing facilities as backward integration in Jharkhand. It has installed capacities of sinter 680,000 tonnes, pig iron 600,000 tonnes, pellets 300,000 tonnes and sponge iron 120,000 tonnes per annum.