Patanjali bid for Ruchi Soya: NCLT reserves order, seeks funding details again

NCLT on Friday reserved its order on the Rs 4,350-crore offer by Patanjali to take over the crippled edible oil firm Ruchi Soya and again sought clarity on Rs 600-crore of part-funding committed as internal accruals for the acquisition.

Mumbai: The National Company Law Tribunal(NCLT) on Friday reserved its order on the Rs 4,350-crore offer by Patanjali to take over the crippled edible oil firm Ruchi Soya and again sought clarity on Rs 600-crore of part-funding committed as internal accruals for the acquisition.

This is the second time that the tribunal has sought details of Rs 600 crore, and asked them to file written submission on the same.

The counsel for the Haridwar-headquartered Patanjali reiterated that Rs 600 crore of the Rs 4,350-crore fund will be met through internal accruals and offered to submit a written submission on the same.

The committee of creditors said Patanjali has already paid Rs 200 crore as guarantee.

Meanwhile, ICICI Bank moved the tribunal to secure Rs 65 crore dues from Ruchi Soya.

NCLT had earlier directed ICICI Bank to reverse the transactions carried out on Ruchi Soya to retrieve around Rs 48 crore and Rs 65 crore with interest, that the bank had paid towards a letter of credit from latter's current account.

Following this, ICICI Bank approached National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, who said the private lender cannot be forced to pay the amount.

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To which, the lenders said since ICICI Bank will not pay the amount, their cut in the overall recovery amount will also be lower.

The ICICI Bank counsel said in case NCLAT reverses its order later, the lender will not only have to pay but also to take a lower haircut from the total recovery.

An NCLT bench of judges VP Singh and Ravikumar Duraisamy asked them to file a written submissions in this regard saying as ICICI Bank is also a financial creditor they will consider their application.

In December 2017, NCLT had referred Ruchi Soya for insolvency on applications moved by Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank and appointed Shailendra Ajmera as the RP.

Patanjali, the lone player left, had last month increased its bid value by around Rs 140 crore to Rs 4,350 crore. The offer excludes capital infusion of Rs 1,700 crore.

Ruchi Soya owes over Rs 9,345 crore to financial creditors led by the State Bank, which has an exposure of Rs 1,800 crore, followed by Central Bank at Rs 816 crore, Punjab National Bank at Rs 743 crore and StanChart at Rs 608 crore.