Suraksha Group earmarks 2,552 acre of land for Jaypee Infratech lenders

Suraksha Group, which has acquired Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL) through insolvency process, has identified 2,552 acre of land parcels for lenders of the bankrupt realty firm in accordance with the resolution plan.

On June 4, Suraksha Group took control of JIL following the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) decision on May 24, upholding its bid to acquire JIL and constituted a new board.

According to sources, Suraksha Group has earmarked 2,372 acre of land for assenting lenders and 180 acre, separately, for ICICI. The group had appointed real estate consultant CBRE to help in land identification process. JIL had around 6,250 acre of land in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas.

In its resolution plan, which was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in March last year, Suraksha Group has offered bankers more than 2,500 acre of land to partly settle their dues.

Sources said Suraksha Group, during the last three months, has infused Rs 125 crore as equity and another Rs 125 crore as debt in Jaypee Infratech, besides arranging a Rs 3,000 crore loan facility, as it gears up to complete around 20,000 unfinished flats in Delhi-NCR.

Moreover, around Rs 1,000 crore cash is lying in the balance sheet of the JIL, which the bankrupt company has accumulated from real estate business and toll income of Yamuna Expressway that connects Greater Noida and Agra. So, the total cash available in JIL is Rs 1,250 crore.

Sources said Suraksha Group will require Rs 6,500-7,000 crore investment to complete nearly 160 residential towers across various projects.

Of these towers, the construction work was going on in only 62 towers before the takeover by Suraksha Group, while activities on the remaining 97 towers were completely stalled.

Sources said Suraksha Group has accelerated the pace of construction in 62 towers and is also applying for completion certificates for the completed buildings.

Out of the 97 completely stalled towers, the group has already awarded contracts for 41 towers to many construction companies and will soon give work orders for the remaining 56 towers.

Sources said construction activities are expected to be in full swing by October.

In June, Sudhir V Valia, promoter of Suraksha Group, was appointed as a Non Executive Director on the JIL board. Aalok Champak Dave was appointed as Executive Director and Usha Anil Kadam as independent director.

Upholding the NCLT's decision of March 2023, the NCLAT in May this year, had said that the decision was made to avoid any further delay in the implementation of the resolution plan and also to take care of the interests of all stakeholders.

The NCLAT had directed Suraksha Group to pay an additional Rs 1,334 crore to Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) as farmers' compensation.

However, the authority now has appealed in the Supreme Court seeking more compensation.

JIL was under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) since August 2017. The CIRP was initiated over an application by the IDBI Bank-led consortium.

On March 7 last year, the NCLT approved the bid of Suraksha group to buy JIL.

In its final resolution plan, Suraksha group offered to bankers more than 2,500 acre of land and nearly Rs 1,300 crore by way of issuing non-convertible debentures.

It also proposed to complete all stalled projects over the next four years.

Lenders of Jaypee Infratech had submitted a claim of Rs 9,783 crore.

In the fourth round of the bidding process to find a buyer for JIL in 2021, Suraksha group won the bid with 98.66 per cent votes. The group had got 0.12 per cent more votes than state-owned NBCC, which was also in the fray.

In the first round of insolvency proceedings in 2018, the Rs 7,350 crore bid of Suraksha group firm Lakshadweep was rejected by the lenders.

The CoC (committee of creditors) had rejected the bids of Suraksha and NBCC in the second round held in May-June 2019.

In November 2019, the Supreme Court directed that the revised bids be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha.

Then, in December 2019, the CoC approved the resolution plan of NBCC during the third round of the bidding process.

In March 2020, NBCC got approval from the NCLT to acquire JIL. However, the order was challenged before the NCLAT and later in the Supreme Court.

On March 21, 2021, the apex court ordered a fresh round of bidding only between NBCC and Suraksha Group. In this fourth round, Suraksha Group won the bid.