NBCC sweetens bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech, offers land parcels worth Rs 5,000 cr to lenders

New Delhi: State-owned NBCC has sweetened its bid to acquire debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech and has now offered to give lenders Rs 5,000 crore worth land parcels, sources said. The public sector enterprise, which is also completing some projects of Amrapali Group on the Supreme Court’s direction, had offered lenders land worth Rs 3,000 crore in its earlier resolution plan submitted a couple of months back. It had also offered the Yamuna Expressway that connects Noida to Agra in Uttar Pradesh. NBCC and Suraksha Realty group-led consortium, which are in the race to acquire Jaypee Infratech, were asked by the lenders to sweeten their offers. Both the potential buyers have submitted their revised offers under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). [caption id=“attachment_4294419” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] According to sources, NBCC has offered to pay Rs 500 crore upfront to lenders and would invest about Rs 2,000-2,500 crore as funding gap to complete delayed housing projects of Jaypee Infratech comprising over 20,000 flats in Noida. Jaypee Infratech has land parcels of 6,000 acre, out of which around 3,500 acre is unutilised. NBCC will give 100 percent equity of Yamuna Expressway to lenders. It has proposed that banks should raise about Rs 2,000 crore against the expressway and provide half of the amount (Rs 1,000 crore) to the state-owned company, which would utilise the fund for upfront payment and kickstart construction. Suraksha Group has also made an offer of land worth Rs 5,000 crore, sources said. The revised resolution plans of NBCC and Suraksha Realty would be considered by the lenders on April 26 and 30 April. “Revised resolution plans have been received from NBCC and Suraksha Realty-led consortium and will be placed for discussion amongst CoC (committee of creditors) members on resolution plans received from resolution applicants in the meetings to be held on April 26 and April 30, respectively,” Jaypee Infratech Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain said in a regulatory filing. Meanwhile, business conglomerate Adani Group had also expressed interest to bid for Jaypee Infratech. However, lenders are unlikely to seek Adani’s offer until this round of insolvency proceedings gets completed. Last week, crisis-hit Jaypee Group’s promoters made a fresh attempt to retain control over its arm Jaypee Infratech by seeking the support of homebuyers for its debt resolution plan under the IBC. Jaypee Group chairman Manoj Gaur had apologised to thousands of distressed homebuyers and promised to infuse Rs 2,000 crore to complete apartments over the next four years. The group had submitted a Rs 10,000-crore plan before lenders in April 2018 as well, but the same was not accepted. In 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking resolution of Jaypee Infratech. In the first round of insolvency proceedings, the Rs 7,350 crore bid of Lakshdeep, part of Suraksha group, was rejected by lenders as it was found to be substantially lower than the company’s net worth and assets. In October 2018, the IRP started a fresh initiative to revive Jaypee Infratech on the NCLT’s direction. The realty firm has an outstanding debt of nearly Rs 9,800 crore. Jaypee Group flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) had submitted Rs 750 crore in the registry of the Supreme Court for the refund to buyers and the amount is lying with the NCLT. Jaypee Infratech is a subsidiary of JAL.