 "Vantage emerges highest bidder for SKS Power Generation with Rs 1,800 cr")
Vantage Point Asset Management, a Singapore-based asset management firm, has emerged the highest bidder for the bankrupt SKS Power Generation (Chhattisgarh) with an offer of Rs 1,800 crore.
The bid by Ahmedabad-based Torrent is a close second with a difference of just Rs 7 crore, said a banking source.
Nagpur-based Sarda Energy and Naveen Jindal-owned Jindal Power have also made good offers and are close to the highest offer, the source said.
The committee of creditors (CoC) is evaluating the offers and would vote on the bids soon.
SKS owns a 600-Mw power plant in Chattisgarh and is currently being run by NTPC.
Reliance Industries (RIL) and the Adani group have not made aggressive offers while government-owned NTPC’s offer is also not aggressive, the source said.
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Both Adani and RIL were earlier in the race for Lanco Amarkantak power project but lost to government-owned REC.
An email sent to Vantage Point did not elicit any response. Torrent declined to comment.
One of the bidders said there are not many coal-based projects up for sale now under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). And SKS, with its own coal supply, is an attractive buy.
The lenders will not take much haircut in the case of SKS Power.
The company was sent to the bankruptcy court after it defaulted on loans worth Rs 1,890 crore to State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda.
Hong Kong-based Agritrade Resources had earlier bought the plant from Indian lenders in November 2018 in a one-time settlement. But Agritrade itself fell into financial troubles and could not service the loan. SKS Power Generation (Chhattisgarh) was set up by Anil Gupta of SKS Ispat.