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A consortium led by Dalmia Bharat has received final approval from the Committee of Creditors (CoC) to acquire Binani Cement for Rs 6,700 crore, including capital of Rs 400 crore, reported Business Standard.
However, the deal has not gone down well with Aditya Birla Group firm UltraTech Cement, which was also in race for Binani, and had increased its initial bid to Rs 6,900 crore. Considering its bid is higher than that of Dalmia-led consortium, UltraTech may challenge the deal in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
"Expect a full-scale legal battle as the resolution professional ran a non-transparent process while ignoring our offer of Rs 69 billion (Rs 6,900 crore)," an UltraTech executive told the paper.
The CoC approved the resolution plan proposed by Dalmia Bharat Cement after four hours of discussion. The decision was taken despite UltraTech's increased bid on Wednesday, a person familiar with the development told the paper.
“Usually after the CoC voting, it takes two to three days to place the proposal before the NCLT for final approval,” said the source quoted above.
A Dalmia Bharat spokesperson said the company would not comment on the Binani Cement acquisition at present.
Earlier, UltraTech had moved the NCLT against the resolution professional and Deloitte for rejecting its bid for Binani Cement. Following which, the NCLT asked Vijaykumar Iyer, the resolution professional for Binani Cement, to appear in person in the Tribunal to answer questions on the bidding process on March 13.
UltraTech had alleged the resolution professional did not follow a transparent bidding process and did not offer any details for not considering their bid.
A Deloitte spokesperson had earlier declined to comment citing client confidentiality.
Binani Cement has debts of around Rs 4,000 crore and and unsecured lenders of about Rs 2,500 crore. It is one of the rare cases where banks are not taking a haircut.
Interestingly, the promoter of Binani Cement has already challenged the resolution professional in NCLT claiming that the RP has “personal interest” in undervaluing Binani Cement.
The value of Binani Cement is Rs 17,300 crore, according to Binani Industries.
If NCLT approves this deal, it will be the third such acquisition by Dalmia Bharat Cement, the other two being Murli Cement and Kalyanpur Cement.
JSW Cement had emerged the highest bidder in the first round of bids but its offer was rejected, however, no details were given to the bidders on the process.
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