Ruchi Soya insolvency: Baba Ramdev's Patanjali bags edible oil firm as lenders approve Rs 4,325 crore bid

In its first major acquisition, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved walked away with debt-ridden edible oil firm Ruchi Soya with a bid of Rs 4,325 crore, sources said. Ruchi Soya has a total debt of about Rs 12,000 crore. When contacted, Patanjali confirmed the development, a PTI report said. “We are informed about the development. Voting has gone in our favour,” Patanjali Ayurved spokesperson S K Tijarawala said. “Tomorrow they would hand over the result to us and then we would proceed further,” he added.

Ruchi Soya's committee of creditors has approved @PypAyurved's resolution plan for the debt-laden company. @_ritusingh has the details. pic.twitter.com/DcgxPtASlD

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) April 30, 2019

Patanjali, the lone player left in contention after the exit of Adani Wilmar, had last month increased its bid value by around Rs 200 crore to Rs 4,350 crore for the Ruchi Soya. This excluded capital infusion of Rs 1,700 crore into the company.

“We have revised our bid to Rs 4,350 crore from earlier offer of Rs 4,160 crore. We are ready to bail out Ruchi Soya which has the biggest infrastructure for soyabean. It’s a national asset,” Patanjali’s spokesperson SK Tijarawala had said last month.

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The decision to increase the bid was taken in the interest of all stakeholders, including farmers and consumers, he had said. Ruchi Soya Industries owes around Rs 9,345 crore to financial creditors. Among financial creditors, State Bank of India (SBI) has the maximum exposure of around Rs 1,800 crore, followed by Central Bank of India Rs 816 crore, Punjab National Bank Rs 743 crore and Standard Chartered Bank India Rs 608 crore. Patanjali acquired Ruchi Soya Industries in an insolvency auction started by lenders to recover over Rs 9,300 crore loans. It almost got a walkover after rival Adani Wilmar decided to pull out from the race despite being selected the highest bidder a few months back. According to sources, lenders on Tuesday approved the Patanjali’s revised bid of Rs 4,325 crore with around 96 percent vote in favour. With the acquisition of Ruchi Soya, Patanjali will become a major player in soya bean oils and other products. In December 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had referred Ruchi Soya for insolvency proceedings on the application of financial creditors Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank. Shailendra Ajmera was appointed as resolution professional (RP) to manage the affairs of the company and undertake the insolvency process. [caption id=“attachment_4446443” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Ruchi Soya has many manufacturing plants and its leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Gold. Adani Wilmar, which emerged as the highest bidder in August last year after a long drawn battle with Patanjali, had in December 2018 written to the RP regarding significant delays in the resolution process that led to the deterioration of Ruchi Soya’s assets. Later, Adani Wilmar, which sells edible oil under the Fortune brand, withdrew from the race. Adani Wilmar had then said the process was getting delayed as the Patanjali group moved the NCLT, Mumbai. Patanjali Ayurved had approached NCLT challenging the decision of Ruchi Soya’s lenders to approve Adani Wilmar’s takeover bid. Patanjali group had come second in the bidding process. The deal would help the Haridwar-based firm, which is struggling to keep growth momentum that it had seen previously. Patanjali, which had recorded multi-fold growth in recent years, witnessed a marginal growth in 2017-18 hit by the implementation of GST, finishing at around Rs 12,000 crore. In 2016-17, Patanjali clocked a turnover of Rs 10,561 crore, registering 111 percent growth. Now the company is focusing more on the agriculture and food processing sector as part of its strategy. --With PTI inputs