The committee of creditors (CoC) of Adhunik Metaliks (AML) met on Monday to consider approving the resolution plan for the insolvent company submitted by UK-based Liberty House, the highest bidder. There were only two resolution applicants for the debt-laden steel maker — Liberty House and Maharashtra Seamless of the DP Jindal group. The CoC of Adhunik Metaliks already identified Liberty House as the highest bidder (H1), while the plan of Maharashtra Seamless was rejected as it was offering less than the liquidation value of the company.
In his submission before the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday, Sumit Binani, resolution professional (RP) of AML, said: “The committee of creditors will consider today the resolution plan forwarded by the bidder.”
Earlier, FE reported that lenders were negotiating with Liberty House for exploring opportunity to raise its offer for the bankrupt company after it had received additional time to complete the ongoing insolvency resolution process. For AML, the extended period of corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) will expire on July 5.
Notably, the Kolkata bench of the NCLT on June 15 had ordered exclusion of 20 days from the mandated 270-day deadline under the CIRP for the company, the flagship of the Adhunik Group.
Lenders to AML are State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, IFCI, Punjab & Sind Bank, UCO Bank, Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank and Srei Infrastructure Finance, among others. AML and Zion Steel put together, Liberty House’s offer earlier stood at around Rs 600 crore.
In case of Adhunik Metaliks, as many as 18 financial creditors submitted claims worth over Rs 5,380 crore, while claims over Rs 5,370 crore were admitted. AML has an integrated steel plant in Odisha’s Sundergarh. Currently, the plant is not operating due to the absence of power supply.
For Zion Steel, the extended period of CIRP will also expire on July 5. The tribunal will hear the matters on AML and Zion Steel on July 5.
Bankruptcy proceedings against AML, and Adhunik Group companies Orissa Manganese & Minerals (OMML) and Zion Steel were admitted by the Kolkata bench of the NCLT in August last year. SBI, which leads the consortium of lenders, had in July last year filed insolvency petitions over non-payment of loans worth `812 crore by AML and Rs 940 crore by OMML. The bank had also claimed dues from Zion Steel, as it was a co-obligator to the loans disbursed to AML and OMML under the provisions of the master restructuring agreement and the common loan agreement signed in March 2014.
Passing an order on July 22, the Kolkata bench of the NCLT had approved the resolution plan submitted by city-based Ghanashyam Mishra & Sons (GMSPL) for acquiring bankrupt OMML. According to the resolution plan of GMSPL, the company would pay a total of `321.19 crore to acquire OMML, while the total payment to the financial creditors would be `310 crore.
