Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Radhakishan Damani battle it out with big industry players to bid for Binani Cement

Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and the brain behind D-Mart store chain Radhakishan Damani have come together to bid for the debt-laden Binani Cement that is up for sale after it underwent an insolvency proceeding. Two senior executives familiar with the development said with the inclusion of these two prominent names, the race will only get further intensified. According to this Economic Times report, many big cement companies such as UltraTech, Heidelberg, JSW Group, Dalmia Bharat and Ramco Cements are eyeing the assets of the company either in partnership with another company or alone. [caption id=“attachment_4304915” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Reuters[/caption] The partnership between Jhunjhunwala and Damani  has evoked surprise, a senior executive said to the ET. “If you look at the list of bidders, it appears that competition will only intensify and lenders may not have to take any haircut,” the executive said. A slew of other billionaires and companies are also bidding together for Binani Cements. Prominent among them are billionaire Ajay Piramal and Dalmia Bharat, JSW Group along with a private equity firm (it has submitted its proposal) and the Ramco Cement with PE fund True North. Banks had claimed Rs 3,884 crore unpaid loans due on Binani Cement that included borrowings from the State Bank of India, Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda. The cement maker also has Rs 2,429 as corporate guarantee due to the SBI and the IDBI Bank. It may be noted that last year in July the Bank of Baroda (B0B) had approached the National Company Law Tribunal against Binani Cement for starting insolvency and bankruptcy proceeding. BoB decided to go to NCLT after the unlisted subsidiary of Binani Industries failed to repay a Rs 97-crore loan to the lender, the ET report said.