The Supreme Court on Monday listed for hearing on March 20, a petition filed by Torrent Investment Ltd against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal permitting the committee of creditors (COC) of Reliance Capital, which is undergoing insolvency proceedings, a second round of auctions for the sale of company assets.
On March 2, the Tribunal had given go-ahead to the COC to hold an extended challenge or second round of auction for Reliance Capital Ltd, noting that a large number of verdicts have held that the commercial wisdom of CoC has to be given paramount importance.
NCLAT had directed the CoC to fix a date after two weeks for holding an extended round of auctions or taking any other steps as part of its negotiation process.
As per the plea by Torrent, the bidding process for debt-ridden Reliance Capital had concluded on December 21, 2022, in which Torrent emerged as the highest bidder with Rs 8,640 crore. However, a day after the e-auction, Hinduja Group, the promoter of IndusInd Bank, revised its offer from Rs 8,110 crore to Rs 9,000 crore.
The company then moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking directions to the administrator not to place Hinduja Group’s ‘non-compliant’ plan before the CoC.
The insolvency tribunal, on January 4 this year, allowed Torrent Investment’s plea, making it the highest bidder in the auction process.
However, the CoC challenged the NCLT order before the NCLAT, contending that it was entitled to call an offer sub-optimal and had every right to negotiate or renegotiate the proposals in order to maximise value.