Reliance Capital debt crisis: Lenders vote in favour of Hinduja Group firm

Lenders of debt-ridden Reliance Capital have voted in favour of a resolution plan submitted by Hinduja Group firm IndusInd International Holdings Ltd (IIHL) which made the highest cash offer of Rs 9,661 crore in the second round of bidding.

As much as 99 per cent votes were in favour of IIHL as lenders expected to recover cash upfront of Rs 9,661 crore from the Hinduja Group entity, sources said.

Besides, sources said cash balance with Reliance Capital (RCAP) of over Rs 500 crore would also go to lenders. So, in all lenders are expected to receive about Rs 10,200 crore for distribution as against Rs 16,000 crore principal secured debt, resulting in 65 per cent recovery for the lenders, sources said.

RCAP Administrator is likely to file IIHL resolution plan in NCLT Mumbai next week as the deadline of July 15 to file is approaching. Voting on the IIHL resolution plan started on June 9 and ended on Thursday. The Committee of Creditors (CoC) had set a minimum bid amount of Rs 9,500 crore for the first round and Rs 10,000 crore for the second round (in April this year), with an additional Rs 250 crore for subsequent rounds.

The second round of auction was held on April 26 after the Supreme Court allowed the lenders to go ahead with the extended challenge mechanism in order to maximise the recovery from the sale of Reliance Capital's assets.

However, according to sources, any decision on the resolution of Reliance Capital by the CoC will be subject to the outcome of the SC's judgement in the appeal filed by Torrent Investments.

The resolution process of Reliance Capital was mired into litigation after the first round of auction. Following the closure of the first round, the Hinduja Group firm submitted the bid post auction date. The post-auction bid is being contested by Torrent Investments in the Supreme Court as it was the highest bidder in the first round of auction.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on November 29, 2021, superseded the board of Reliance Capital in view of payment defaults and serious governance issues.

The RBI appointed Nageswara Rao Y as the administrator in relation to the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the firm. Reliance Capital is the third large non-banking financial company (NBFC) against which the central bank has initiated bankruptcy proceedings under IBC. The other two were Srei Group NBFC and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL).

The central bank subsequently filed an application for initiation of CIRP against the company at the Mumbai bench of NCLT. In February last year, the RBI-appointed administrator invited expressions of interest for the sale of Reliance Capital.