NBCC and Suraksha Realty are in the race to acquire Jaypee Infratech through the ongoing insolvency process.
On December 7, a committee of creditors (CoC) decided that homebuyers and lenders of Jaypee Infratech will vote on the bids of NBCC Ltd and Suraksha Realty at the same time. The voting process started on December 10 and will continue till December 16.
As many as 13 banks and over 23,000 homebuyers have voting rights in the CoC. Buyers have around 58 per cent votes. For a bid to be approved, 66 per cent votes are required.
"Homebuyers want successful resolution; they are not averse to the plan of either of the two bidders/resolution applicants. However, there are certain essential criteria that steer NBCC much ahead in comparison to the other bidder," said Aaditya Gutgutia, who is the spoksperson for the consortium of nine associations of home buyers.
The consortium of nine registered associations of homebuyers is known as '9A'.
"Jaypee Wishtown Noida is a huge project comprising of 25,000 unfinished flats. Only NBCC has the experience of developing townships and large building complexes in the NCR. The support of the government and its navratna PSU status has instilled confidence in the 25,000 beleaguered homebuyers," he said in a statement.
The association urged those homebuyers who are scattered across various cities and have not been able to keep pace with the developments, to vote for the resolution plan of NBCC. It also asked lenders to take a pragmatic view and support the NBCC plan.
Earlier, sources had said Suraksha got nearly 44 score in the evaluation matrix, while NBCC got nearly 43 and 22.5 marks in two scenarios.
This is the third round of bidding process, which has been initiated on the direction of the apex court.
In its latest bid, Suraksha Realty further improved its bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech by offering more land and upfront cash to lenders. It has increased upfront payment to lenders to Rs 190 crore from Rs 175 crore offered in its revised offer submitted on December 3. The land-debt swap deal has also been improved to 2,320 acre from 2,220 acre.
NBCC has offered 1,526 acres of land to lenders in its revised bid.
On Yamuna Expressway, NBCC has proposed to transfer the road asset to lenders but before that it would take loan of around Rs 2,500 crore against toll revenue to fund construction spend. Suraksha will keep expressway.
For homebuyers, NBCC has proposed to complete about 20,000 pending flats in three-and-a-half years, while Suraksha in three years.
Suraksha Realty has also kept aside Rs 250 crore worth land for paying penalty to homebuyers for past delays.
In Jaypee Infratech, NBCC has offered to infuse Rs 120 crore as equity, while Suraksha Rs 25 crore.
Jaypee Infratech, a subsidiary of crisis-hit Jaiprakash Associates, went into insolvency process in August 2017 after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted an application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium.
Homebuyers' claim amounting to over Rs 13,000 crore has been admitted by interim resolution professional (IRP) Anuj Jain, while banks' claim is worth Rs 9,800 crore.
In the first round of insolvency proceedings conducted last year, Rs 7,350-crore bid of Lakshdeep, part of Suraksha Group, was rejected by lenders.
The CoC rejected the bids of Suraksha Realty and NBCC in the second round held in May-June this year.
The matter reached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and then the Supreme Court. On November 6 this year, the Supreme Court directed completion of Jaypee Infratech's insolvency process within 90 days and said the revised resolution plan will be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha Realty. MJH HRS