Suraksha Group gets approval from lenders and homebuyers to take over Jaypee Infratech

All the banks, barring ICICI Bank which has 1.34 percent votes, voted in favour of Suraksha group. Two lenders voted against NBCC's bid -- ICICI Bank and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd (0.12 percent voting share).

Both Suraksha and NBCC received the full 56.62 percent and 0.13 votes of homebuyers and FD holders, respectively.

The voting on the bids submitted by the government’s construction arm NBCC and Suraksha Group began on June 14 and ended on June 23.

The IRP Anuj Jain will now file an application with NCLT alongwith the Suraksha plan by the first week of July and NCLT will then have to approve it, sources said.

Jaypee Infratech's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain had earlier filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking extension of timeline for completion of its resolution process till the first week of July.

The matter for granting extension is listed on July 1. The IRP will inform the apex court that the voting has concluded and the Suraksha Plan has been approved, sources said.

Commenting on the outcome of the CoC’s decision, a spokesperson for Suraksha said “We humbly thank all the stakeholders including the Government of India, Hon’ble Supreme Court and entire Judiciary, Banks and Institutions, all Homebuyers, Public Depositors, YEIDA and their legal counsel, IRP and his team, Committee of Creditors and all their advisors for their relentless efforts towards reviving the world-class residential Jaypee Infratech project, and express our gratitude towards them for bestowing faith in execution capabilities of Suraksha."

"Thanks to healthy competition and fair process conducted by IRP and CoC. We are committed to the homebuyers, and assure them with accelerated construction work in all phases leading to faster deliveries as promised in our resolution plan. Further, we look forward to the continued support of all stakeholders in our journey to bring back the beleaguered real estate project to fulfill the dreams of thousands of homebuyers,” he added.

State-owned NBCC and Suraksha group are in the fray to acquire the debt-laden realty firm Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL) and complete over 20,000 pending flats for homebuyer.

Suraksha Group had offered 2,552 acres of land to secured financial creditors with fair value of Rs 6,456 crore. Rs 1,280 crore as instruments to secured finacial creditors and FD holders offered Rs 29 crore repayment.

JIL went into Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) in August 2017. This is the fourth round of bidding process to find a buyer for JIL, which went into Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) in August 2017.

In its final bid, NBCC has offered 1,903-acre land to bankers and 90 percent stake in Yamuna Expressway but will also take a debt of around Rs 2,000 crore against the road project.

Suraksha had offered to bankers over 2,500-acre land and nearly Rs 1,300 crore by issue of non-convertible debentures.

In the Committee of Creditors (CoC), homebuyers have around 56.63 percent voting rights, lenders have about 43.25 percent and the remaining is with fixed deposit holders.

On June 10, Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain who is managing JIL and running the bankruptcy proceedings, told Moneycontrol that financial creditors of Jaypee Infratech had decided to put to vote the revised bids of NBCC Ltd and Suraksha Group and that he had submitted a report to the CoC, stating that the NBCC's bid is compliant with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

In the first round of the CIRP, the Rs 7,350-crore bid of Suraksha Group was rejected by lenders. The CoC rejected the bids of both Suraksha Realty and NBCC in the second round held in May-June 2019.

In November 2019, the Supreme Court directed the completion of Jaypee Infratech's insolvency process within 90 days and the revised resolution plan to be invited only from the NBCC and Suraksha Realty.

In December 2019, the CoC approved the resolution plan of NBCC with a 97.36 percent vote in favour during the third round of the bidding process.

In its bid in December 2019, NBCC had offered 1,526 acres of land to lenders under a land-debt swap deal. On Yamuna Expressway, NBCC has proposed to transfer the road asset to lenders but before that, it would take a loan of around Rs 2,500 crore against toll revenue to fund construction spend.

In March 2020, NBCC had got approval from the NCLT to acquire JIL. But the order was challenged before the NCLAT and later in the Supreme Court, which on March 24 this year, ordered that fresh bids should be invited only from NBCC and Suraksha.

The apex court had also directed that the resolution process be completed in 45 days, which lapsed on May 8 and an application has been filed by the IRP to extend the timeline for finding a buyer for JIL.