Consider UltraTech’s revised bid for Binani Cement: NCLT

KOLKATA: The

National Company Law Tribunal

(NCLT) ordered on Wednesday the resolution professional (RP) for

Braj Binani Group

’s bankrupt Binani Cement to accept UltraTech’s revised offer within 72 hours of the judgment. It also directed the RP to submit the revised offer along with the resolution plan to the committee of creditors (CoC).


The CoC, led by Bank of Baroda and Edelweiss, had earlier refused to consider the revised offer from the

Aditya Birla Group

’s cement giant as it had arrived after they decided on the highest bidder. The revised offer of UltraTech, along with the working capital requirement for Binani Cement, is worth about Rs 7,950 crore.

Taking the working capital requirement into consideration, the final offer of rival bidder

Dalmia Bharat

group came to around Rs 6,800 crore. In its order, NCLT also directed CoC to reconsider the resolution plan of Rajputana Properties (RPPL), a

Dalmia

group firm. “If both resolution applicants (UltraTech and RPPL) are willing to participate in the bidding process, CoC is expected to allow both of them and the best way for the revival of the corporate debtor is to be decided by CoC,” the order stated.

Following the announcement of declaring Dalmia as the top bidder on February 27, UltraTech, one of the unsuccessful bidders, had raised its offer substantially. Eventually, on March 19, it concluded a deal with Binani Industries for sale of 98.4% stake in the cement maker for Rs 7,266 crore. Even without rejecting UltraTech’s revised bid, Binani Cement’s creditors approved a resolution plan with Dalmia as the highest bidder. Amid opposition from the Braj Binani group and Ultra-Tech, the plan was filed with the tribunal for its approval earlier in April. Binani Cement has an annual capacity of 6.25 million tonnes.

The counsel for Binani Industries, Ratnanko Banerjee, welcomed the order by saying that all stakeholders should get maximum benefit. Senior group adviser of Binani, Sameer Kaji, feels that the order is in line with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code preamble of maximising value.

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