NCLT reserves order on Suraksha's bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech and complete over 20,000 housing units

The National Company Law Tribunal has reserved its order on Mumbai-based Suraksha group's bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech Ltd and complete more than 20,000 flats for homebuyers who have been waiting for their homes for almost a decade.

The NCLT president Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar had reserved the order on November 22, the last date of hearing, but a written order was uploaded today.

“Arguments heard. All counsels are directed to upload on or before 29.11.2022 the final written submissions to the respective applications. Matters reserved for orders/clarifications,” the order said.

After approval by the committee of creditors, the National Company Law Tribunal had to clear Suraksha Group’s offer for the embattled firm. This is pending for approval before the Delhi-based Principal bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

On June 23, 2021, the financial creditors of Noida-based Jaypee Infratech Ltd. had chosen Suraksha Group of Mumbai over state-owned NBCC to take over the debt-laden developer and complete the unfinished apartments.
The Suraksha Group received 98.66 percent of the votes compared with NBCC’s 98.54 percent. Voting started on June 14 and ended on June 23, 2021. This was the fourth round of bidding to find a buyer for Jaypee.

Suraksha Group had offered to bankers over 2,500 acres of land and nearly Rs 1,300 crore by way of issuing non-convertible debentures in its final resolution plan. It has also proposed to complete all pending flats over the next four years.

Jaypee Infratech went into the insolvency process in August 2017 after the NCLT admitted an application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium. In the first round of insolvency proceedings, lenders rejected a Rs 7,350 crore bid of Lakshadweep, a part of the Suraksha Group. The CoC rejected the bids of Suraksha Realty and NBCC in the second round in May-June 2019.
Interim resolution professional Anuj Jain is managing Jaypee and running the bankruptcy proceedings.

The matter reached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and then the Supreme Court. In November 2019, the apex court directed that revised bids be invited from only NBCC and Suraksha.

In December 2019, the CoC had approved NBCC’s resolution plan with 97.36 percent votes in favour during the third round of bidding. In March 2020, NBCC received the NCLT’s approval to acquire Jaypee, but the order was challenged in the NCLAT and later in the Supreme Court, which ordered that fresh bids should be invited from NBCC and Suraksha.

Also Read: Jaypee Infratech case: Homebuyers hope to see projects completed; Say voting for resolution plans was like India-Pak cricket match

The JIL resolution process entered its sixth year on August 9, 2022. The committee of creditors approved the resolution plan of Suraksha submitted to the NCLT on July 7, 2021. Since then, the case has been pending with the tribunal for its approval.

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