The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and the State government have urged the National Company Law Tribunal to grant Nagarjuna Oil Corporation (NOCL) three months’ time to identify a strategic investor.
TIDCO has a 2 per cent stake in NOCL, which is setting up a six-million-tonne refinery in the first phase in Cuddalore in the East Coast of Tamil Nadu. TIDCO and the State government have impleaded themselves in the proceedings in the NCLT.
The move follows Netoil, the proposed strategic investor not bringing in the funds. NCLT ordered the appointment of an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) allowing the petition of one of the vendors.
The NCLT Bench has also accepted the IRP proposed by the Vendor Petitioner, a Chennai- based company registered under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India.
According to sources in the know, this order has several implications as a firm deadline is set. The IBC gives 180 days for a resolution and an one-time extension of 90 days. After this the NCLT can appoint a liquidator to wind up the company.
In the interim the IRP could keep the Corporation going and arrange to pay the staff which has not been paid for over two years.
The IRP, which will control the management, will follow a transparent process to find a new investor through open bidding.
The ₹18,000-crore refinery, the largest private sector investment in the State, was originally scheduled to be commissioned in 2002 at a cost of about ₹3,500 crore. Major shareholders in the refinery project promoted by the Nagarjuna Group, which holds a 47 per cent stake, include Tata Sons which holds 12 per cent, Tata Petrodyne 12 per cent and Trafigura 19 per cent.