It was touted as a game changer but big-ticket privatisation has been a mixed bag as the government faces unanticipated challenges of lukewarm investor response, employee union agitation and legal hurdles. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's often-repeated statement 'the government has no business to be in business' guided the drawing up of an ambitious privatisation pipeline. While Air India sale succeeded, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) divestment failed.
HDFC Bank expects to amalgamate its home loan major parent HDFC into itself by September next year, a top official said on Friday. Both HDFC and HDFC Bank held general meetings on Friday to seek shareholder approvals for what is billed as the largest merger in Indian corporate history at over $40 billion. At the time of announcing the merger on April 4 this year, the entities had said the merger will take 12-18 months.
The National Company Law Tribunal has directed to start insolvency proceedings against OYO Hotels and Homes Pvt Ltd on March 30, according to a public announcement by the interim resolution professional.
Valuers have found almost no assets to pay for their claims against the Videocon group that entered the insolvency process in 2018. But the dissenters suggest that the money is elsewhere, possibly in the group's oil and gas assets, which are not part of the group's bankruptcy case.
Seeking to provide a quicker and value-maximising outcome for stressed MSMEs, the government has introduced a pre-packaged resolution process for such enterprises by amending the insolvency law. Now, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can seek resolution for their stress through the pre-packaged process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). An ordinance was promulgated to amend the IBC on April 4. Many MSMEs have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and experts opined that the latest amendment, which comes less than two weeks after the suspension of certain IBC provisions ended, is a welcome move.
The $8.5 billion TVS Group received final approval for a family resettlement on February 4 from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). It is an arrangement that is noteworthy because unlike many other corporate settlements this one was sorted out amicably and without any open conflicts.
Unfazed by the Supreme Court upholding winding up of the company, shareholders of Devas Multimedia will continue to seek seizure of Indian government assets abroad to collect $1.2 billion the firm has been awarded by arbitration tribunals for cancellation of a satellite deal but are open for talks to settle the issue, their counsel said. "The decision by the Supreme Court does not change anything. The Modi government and the Indian courts cannot rewrite the facts. "Their flimsy allegations of fraud will never stand up in courts outside of India," said Matthew D McGill, partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and lead counsel for several Devas' shareholders.
Amtek Auto was among the first list of 12 companies which were referred by the RBI in 2017 to respective banks for initiation of insolvency process for defaults.
Jet Airways will restart domestic operations by the first quarter of 2022 and short haul international flights by the last quarter of the next year, Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the winning bidder for the grounded airline, stated on Monday. The first flight of Jet Airways would be on Delhi-Mumbai route, it mentioned, adding that the airline would now be headquartered in Delhi instead of Mumbai. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June this year had approved the Jalan Kalrock Consortium's resolution plan for Jet Airways, two years after the once-storied full-service carrier went into insolvency proceedings.
The brand new bankruptcy process is being brazenly gamed by those with connections and money. The touts and fixers of the previous regime have been replaced by a new set close to this one, observes Debashis Basu.
A bankruptcy appeals court has scrapped billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Twin Star Technologies' winning bid to take over Videocon Industries Ltd on a plea by some creditors that the money offered imposed a steep Rs 62,000 crore haircut upon banks. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) asked creditors to initiate the fresh sale of Videocon, a consumer durables company manufacturing products ranging from air-conditioners to washing machines, for recovery of their unpaid Rs 64,637.6 crore. While a majority of lenders had previously accepted Twin Star Technologies' Rs 2,962.02 crore offer, Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and IFCI Ltd dissented, saying the amount offered was close to the liquidation value of the bankrupt firm and that they cannot be paid less than the liquidation value.
At its meeting held on Friday, the company's board rejected the minority shareholders' demand and termed the requisition as "invalid and illegal". "In its meeting held on 1st October 2021, the board has arrived at a conclusion that the requisition is invalid and illegal; and has accordingly conveyed its inability to convene the Extraordinary General Meeting to Invesco Developing Markets Funds and OFI Global China Fund, LLC," ZEEL said in a statement.
Chinese banks -- China Development Bank, China Exim Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) -- will get a lion share of 30 per cent or Rs 7,000 crore in RCOM/RTL/RITL resolution plan, with the DoT getting nothing if the proposed plan goes ahead.
State-owned Punjab & Sind Bank is targeting salary accounts to boost the share of low-cost deposits. Swarup Saha, managing director and chief executive officer of the New Delhi-based lender, tells Manojit Saha that the bank may see gross non-performing assets (NPAs) fall below 8 per cent if there is resolution of the stressed assets.
The Delhi high court on Thursday put on hold the insolvency resolution process (IRP) proceedings against Reliance Communications (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani in relation to the recovery of Rs 1,200 crore loans given by SBI to his two firms. Ambani had given personal guarantees for the Rs 565 crore and Rs 635 crore SBI loans to RCom and Reliance Infratel Ltd (RITL), respectively, in August 2016.
The corporate affairs ministry proposed the names of Borkar & Mazumdar & Co and MM Chitale & Co for IL&FS and IFIN respectively; and GM Kapadia & Co and CNK & Associates for IL&FS Transportation Networks.
These courts will be set up in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad
As and when Jet Airways applies for slots, these would be allocated among all airlines according to guidelines, without any claim of historicity in favour of any airline. Slots would be given to Jet only from the available remaining pool.
All India Jet Airways' Officers and Staff Association on Thursday said it has filed an appeal before the NCLAT against Jalan-Kalrock consortium's resolution plan for the airline. In October 2020, the airline's Committee of Creditors (CoC) approved the resolution plan submitted by the consortium of the UK's Kalrock Capital and the UAE-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan. The plan was later cleared by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
Jet Airways will be able to take to the skies once again, after aviation regulator DGCA on Friday granted it a revalidated air operator certificate, allowing the airline to resume commercial flight operations.
He, however, seemed to indicate that he did give a personal guarantee to India's largest lender SBI, which has moved the NCLT to recover Rs 1,200 crore.
The government will use the Supreme Court order calling the 2005 deal between ISRO's commercial arm Antrix and privately-owned Devas Multimedia a fraud, to counter seizure of its properties, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday as she launched a blistering attack on the Congress for handing over airwaves used by the defence to the private firm for pittance. "It is a fraud of Congress, by Congress (and) for Congress," the minister told reporters as she read out paragraphs from the Supreme Court's January 17 decision allowing winding up of Devas Multimedia because of the fraud.
US-based Oaktree on Monday pipped Piramal Enterprises and Adani Group to emerge as the highest bidder for DHFL after fresh bids were invited under the insolvency process, according to sources. The committee of creditors had fixed December 14 as the last for submission of revised bids. According to the sources, Oaktree raised the bid to Rs 36,646 crore, including Rs 1,000 crore for insurance and Rs 3,000 crore of interest earned, while Piramal Enterprises offered Rs 35,550 crore, including Rs 300 for insurance and Rs 3,000 of interest earned.
The auditors -- the local arms of the Big Four global firms Deloitte Haskins & Sells and KPMG which has BSR & Associates as an affiliate here-had challenged the jurisdiction of the NCLT to ban them.
Piramal Group on Thursday said the Reserve Bank is understood to have cleared the resolution plan for debt-ridden DHFL as approved by the Committee of Creditors (CoC). The CoC had approved a resolution plan submitted by a Piramal Group company, Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited, last month. "We understand that the RBI has approved the DHFL resolution plan from Piramal Capital and Housing Finance, submitted by the CoC," Piramal Group said in a statement. The resolution plan was approved by the CoC in its 18th meeting concluded on January 15, 2021.
Bankruptcy proceedings are going at a slower pace than what the bankers had envisaged and many cases have gone beyond the 270-day timeline set under the IBC mainly because of litigation.
Around 241 companies were sent for liquidation under the IBC by various NCLT benches and in only 58 cases have the resolution plans been accepted
Jet Airways, which is preparing to relaunch operations next year, on Friday said it is in "advanced discussions" with Boeing and Airbus for buying and leasing planes. The grounded airline has been acquired by Murarilal Jalan-Kalrock Capital consortium under the insolvency resolution process. The ongoing discussions are part of the grounded airline's revival plan approved by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the airline said in a regulatory filing on Friday.
If all goes well, then every single employee of Jet Airways will become an owner of the airline.
The RBI said the board has been superseded "in view of the defaults by RCL in meeting the various payment obligations to its creditors and serious governance concerns which the Board has not been able to address effectively". It has also appointed Nageswar Rao Y (ex-executive director, Bank of Maharashtra) as the administrator of the NBFC.
The bankruptcy tribunal had on July 5, prevented the Directorate General of Civil Aviation from deregistering the Boeing 777 plane, which has been under the possession of a Dutch cargo provider since April.
With 600-700 new NPA cases getting admitted into NCLT every month, the demand for resolution professionals is on the rise with their number more than doubling in less than a year.
'Airports must look at their maximum capacity to handle passengers.'
Before the pandemic hit the world and led to shutdowns, the company had received nearly half a dozen offers. But bidders are now withdrawing. They want to reassess the situation. They want to conserve cash and avoid acquisition.
The ministry informed the tribunal that former head of ILFS Financial Services Ramesh Chandra Bawa withdrew/transferred Rs 1 crore and Rs 14 lakh from Axis Bank accounts in two instances which are in violation of the December 3, 2018 order of the tribunal which had frozen these accounts.
When it was operational, Jet Airways had over 22,000 employees of them over 16,000 were on the rolls.
Bankers said the SC verdict might prolong the resolution process and force lenders to bring back cases to the drawing board.
The Supreme Court Wednesday sought a response from the Future group on Amazon's plea against the January 5 order of the Delhi high court staying the ongoing arbitration proceedings before an arbitral tribunal over Future Retail's Rs 24,500-crore merger deal with Reliance. A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli issued notices to the Future group firms, Future Coupons Private Ltd (FCPL) and Future Retail Ltd (FRL) and said that it will hear the matter on February 23 "without any adjournment". The Delhi high court on January 5 had stayed the Amazon-Future arbitration which is going on before a three-member arbitral tribunal over the latter's Rs 24,500-crore deal with Reliance.
A tribunal consented with the decision of the newly constituted board of the IL&FS and observed that the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings was the best option for the two firms.
Rejecting the contention of the auditors and others that they cannot be treated as part of the management, which is responsible for managing the affairs of the company and therefore should not be charged as per the said section, the NCLAT said that rules of natural justice are to be followed.
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