Jindal (India), which is part of the BC Jindal Group, has emerged as the sole bidder for Kishore Biyani's Future Enterprises Limited (FEL). According to a report in Economic Times, Kolkata-based steel tubes and pipes maker Jindal's plan was the only one that was submitted to the creditors till last week. November 10 was the last date to submit the resolution plans for FEL.
Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail was earlier in the race to acquire the company. It had sought time till October 30 to take a call on its bid for Future Enterprises. There has been no update on this following that.
"There is only one bidder after the extensions. Lenders will now scrutinise the plan and seek clarifications. There has been no further extension proposed," an official told ET.
The exact value, payment schedule and other details of the Jindal plan have not been disclosed.
The Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against Future Retail was started by its creditors following loan defaults last year. The Kishore Biyani-led Future group firm had significant borrowings in the form of bonds and thus, several trusteeship companies have filed claims.
The retain chain owes a total of Rs 12,265 crore to its creditors. Centbank Financial Services had filed the highest claim of Rs 3,344 crore, followed by Axis Trustee Services at Rs 1,341 crore and Vistra ITCL (India) at Rs 210 crore.
In July this year, Future Enterprises had mentioned in an exchange filing to the stock exchange that it had received resolution plans from Reliance Retail Ventures, Jindal (India) Ltd, and Donear Industries-owned textiles maker GBTL Ltd.
Avil Menezes, resolution professional of Jindal (India), Reliance Retail and Future Enterprises', had disclosed the names of these three entities as a 'provisional list of prospective resolution applicants'. On February 27, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted Kishore Biyani’s Future Enterprises for corporate insolvency. The Mumbai bench of the NCLT ordered the "commencement of corporate insolvency resolution process" for the firm. As per the plan, the firm will be auctioned in order to recover unpaid dues.
In June, Future Enterprises had invited Expression of Interest for its businesses which are across manufacturing, trading and leasing of retail infrastructure across Maharashtra, Karnataka and across India, it said in a stock exchange filing. Future Enterprises had stated that it has three manufacturing plants at Tarapur-Boisar, Mahadevpura and Anekal, Bengaluru.
On Friday, Future Retail's resolution professional (RP) approached the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal to seek initiation of liquidity proceedings of the company, a regulatory filing said.
It noted that the resolution plan submitted by Space Mantra has not been approved by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Future Retail. The application was filed under Section 33 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the regulatory update said.
Spacemantra had offered a deal of Rs 553 crore, which is a small part of the total dues of close to Rs 20,000 crore.
Space Mantra's plan was rejected in the vote on September 30, with only 42 per cent support, falling below the necessary 66 per cent for approval.
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