Our Bureau The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has declined to stay an order passed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) allowing the lenders of Binani Cement to consider the offer made by Aditya Birla Group’s UltraTech Cement.
The NCLT decision had been challenged by Dalmia Bharat. The appellate tribunal will further hear the case on May 22.
The NCLT on Wednesday had asked the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Binani Cement to consider the revised offer from UltraTech Cement Ltd. The tribunal, however, allowed Dalmia Bharat to match UltraTech’s revised offer, if it so chooses.
The Dalmia Bharat-controlled Rajputana Properties Pvt Ltd (RPPL) was the highest bidder for Binani Cement.
But UltraTech subsequently offered to increase its bid. The proposal was rejected by the CoC on the grounds that the higher bid was placed by Ultratech after the deadline had passed.
However, the Kolkata Bench of the NCLT directed the CoC to reconsider the resolution plan by Ultratech.
UltraTech’s first bid for Binani Cement under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was lower than Dalmia’s offer. The CoC therefore began negotiations with the H1 bidder, Dalmia’s RPPL.
However, UltraTech sought to revise its offer for Binani Cement, which was disallowed by the CoC.
Thereafter, in a parallel deal, UltraTech signed an agreement with Binani Industries — the parent company of Binani Cement — to buy its cement assets for ₹7,266 crore.
Over the past two months, UltraTech revised the bid and is now said to be offering nearly ₹8,000 crore for Binani Cement, which will cover all the financial and operational creditor dues.