Reliance Capital's Insolvency: Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Torrent's Appeal
Reliance Capital's insolvency will see further delays as Torrent approaches the apex court against the NCLAT order.
The Supreme Court has admitted Torrent Investment Ltd.’s plea against the decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.
The top court will hear the case on March 20, two lawyers involved in the matter told BQ Prime.
Earlier this month, NCLAT had allowed the creditors' committee to hold an extended round of auction for debt-ridden Reliance Capital Ltd.
The appellate tribunal had noted that in a large number of judgments, it's been held that the commercial wisdom of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) has to be given paramount importance.
NCLAT had asked the CoC to fix a date after two weeks for holding an extended round of auctions or take any other steps as part of its negotiation process.
The case reached NCLAT after the insolvency tribunal stopped the CoC's plan for an "extended round of auctions." It had allowed Torrent Investment’s plea, making it the highest bidder in the auction process.
The bidding process for Reliance Capital concluded on Dec. 21, 2022, with Torrent emerging 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. This prompted Torrent to approach the NCLT for direction to the administrator not to place Hinduja Group's "non-compliant plan" before the CoC.
On January 4, the court granted Torrent this relief. The CoC, however, was of the view 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.