Torrent group now offers Rs 8,640 crore upfront for Reliance Capital

Move comes after Hindujas' Rs 9,000-cr post-auction offer

Ahmedabad-based Torrent group has revised its offer for Reliance Capital by proposing its entire bid amount of Rs 8,640 crore as upfront cash.

The revised offer was made by Torrent at the Committee of Creditors meeting held in Mumbai on Friday. Though Torrent’s net value of the offer remains at Rs 8,640 crore, the entire money is now being offered as upfront cash, instead of staggered payments over the years.

The Hinduja group had offered Rs 8,110 crore to the RCap lenders in the auction but after the auction, it revised its bid to Rs 9,000 crore with the entire amount as upfront cash. The lenders have not taken any decision as yet and both offers will be put before the CoC for voting, after the litigation over the bids gets over.

Banking sources said the Challenge Mechanism auction process in the Reliance Capital resolution provided for bidding on only the NPV (net present value) amount and not the payment terms.

The payment terms were subject to negotiations between lenders and bidders, following the challenge mechanism. The payment terms have been changed by the Torrent group based on the request of lenders, said a source close to the development.

With this, Torrent remains in full compliance with the Challenge Mechanism process, said a source close to the development.

On January 3, the Torrent group received an interim relief from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai Bench, which asked the lenders to keep the Hinduja group’s post-auction offer in abeyance until the next hearing.

Torrent, which offered Rs 8,640 crore for RCap, earlier asked the lenders not to entertain Hinduja’s post-auction offer of Rs 9,000 crore as accepting such a proposal would defeat the entire challenge process and delay the debt resolution process. Torrent later moved the NCLT. 

RCap was sent for debt resolution in November 2021 after the company defaulted on debt worth Rs 24,000 crore to the lenders.