Suraksha group beats NBCC India in close race to buy Jaypee Infratech

It's a photo finish with Suraksha getting 98.66% votes, while NBCC gets 98.54%

The bidding race for Jaypee Infratech ended in a photo finish on Wednesday, with the Suraksha group’s resolution plan winning 98.66 per cent of the committee of creditors’ (CoC) votes and NBCC India receiving 98.54 per cent of the votes.

Both plans were put up for voting separately, and the tight result is leading to speculation that NBCC may move court again.

All lenders, except ICICI Bank, voted in favour of both the plans, while most homebuyers chose NBCC. However, dissent by Srei Infrastructure against NBCC’s plan tilted the scales in favour of Suraksha.

Jaypee Infratech, which owns the Delhi-Agra expressway and land on both sides of it, was referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in August 2017 under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) after it defaulted on Rs 22,600 crore of loans. Since then litigation by various stakeholders, including former promoters and homebuyers, apart from the CoC's flip-flop, has delayed the debt resolution process.  

The company had earlier received interest from the JSW, Vedanta and Adani groups, but all of them withdrew from the process, citing delay.

Finally, the contest was left between Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company and NBCC India. The two firms have also shown interest in developing the land around the expressway.

On June 7, Suraksha had sweetened its offer by Rs 1,298 crore to Rs 7,736 crore for the financial lenders and promised to bring in additional interim funding of Rs 300 crore to build houses faster for Jaypee customers.

Government-owned NBCC, on the other hand, had offered Rs 1,200 crore lower, and its offer included 100 per cent shareholding of the land bank company with 1,900 acres of land to the financial creditors, who had agreed to the resolution plan.  

NBCC also agreed to transfer a 90 per cent stake in the Expressway SPV (special purpose vehicle), including concession rights of Yamuna Expressway and land.

The offer also included 4,660 acres of expressway land and 137.85 acres of commercial land for developing facilities along the expressway. NBCC had offered additional 100 acres of land, which was to be earmarked for payment to the homebuyers on account of past delay penalty in a pro-rata manner.

In the entire process, homeowners were the biggest losers who had been waiting for over 11 years to get keys to their homes and had moved the Supreme Court to get a seat on the CoC.

Thanking the judiciary and the CoC, a spokesperson for the Suraksha group said they were committed to the homebuyers, and would accelerate the construction work, leading to faster deliveries. “We look forward to the continued support of all stakeholders in our journey to bring back the beleaguered real estate project to fulfill the dreams of thousands of homebuyers,” said the spokesperson.