 "Liberty House, Sanjeev Gupta")
UK-based Liberty House, which saw its bid for acquiring Bhushan Power and Steel being rejected, said it has made a case before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) today and March 5 has been fixed as the next date of hearing.
"The Tribunal has heard us and heard the RP's counsel as well as Tata's counsel who intervened. The Tribunal has deemed it fit that the respondents put their submissions on affidavit explaining conduct of the insolvency process. The parties will now be heard on the 5th (March)," Liberty House said in a statement.
"We are hopeful that our bona fide will stand out," the statement said.
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Liberty House also explained to the NCLT that it wants to do business in India as there is no better time than this, the company's spokesperson said.
The matter, the spokesperson said, is sub judice and "we have full faith in NCLT".
The company had earlier said that it was planning to move NCLT this week to direct creditors and resolution professional to consider its offer.
Terming itself as a "turnaround specialist", the company had said that it has more than two dozen turnaround success stories in the last three years and an "impeccable track record".
The Committee of Creditors had last week rejected the bid of Liberty House to acquire Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd, leaving Tata Steel and JSW Steel in the race for taking over the assets of the bankrupt firm, a source said.
COC in a meeting had rejected the bids of Liberty House because "it submitted the bids after the last date of submission, which was February 8", a source privy to the development had said earlier.
The bids of Tata Steel and JSW Steel were disclosed at the meeting and the detailed terms and conditions of the bids were shared with the lenders, the source had said.
Bhushan Power and Steel owes about Rs 450 billion to its lenders.
When contacted, Resolution Professional (RP) Mahender Kumar Khandelwal had declined to comment on the developments.
According to the source, while Tata Steel offered Rs 170 billion to the lenders as upfront amount and Rs 72 billion for operations of Bhushan, JSW made an offer of Rs 110 billion to the lenders and Rs 20 billion for the operations of the beleaguered power firm.
The COC will now meet on March 6 to take the process forward, including declaration of the highest bidder.
Bhushan Power and Steel was among the 12 non-performing accounts (NPAs) referred by the Reserve Bank of India for NCLT proceedings.
