MUMBAI: Creditors to Lavasa Corp have voted in favour of the Welspun-Ashdan consortium to take over India’s first privately owned hill town project, which ran into administration after debt ballooned out of control.
Voting results published over the weekend showed that the consortium of Welspun subsidiary Paschim Sagar Properties and Pune-based Ashdan Properties has received 92.21% of the votes, as all larger creditors except homebuyers backed the plan.
Another strong contender, Valor Estate, received 84.16% of the vote mainly because Axis Bank with 8.89% of debt share rejected the plan, while ACRE ARC with 6 54% of the debt did not vote.
Voting results have been released even as the litigation under NCLT continues to hear a petition by Valor against creditors decision to allow Welspun-Ashdan to tweak its payment plan even after the last day of bid submission.
“The voting was started in September and was completed by November but results were kept in abeyance by the NCLT since it was hearing objections to the decision of committee of creditors (CoC). In going ahead and releasing the voting results the resolution professional (RP) has relied on a court order of January 29 which did not stay the resolution process but said the CoC decision will be taken up by the court later,” said a person aware of the details.
In an order on January 29, the two judge bench of Sanjiv Dutt and Ashish Kalia had allowed RP Udayraj Patwardhan to continue the bankruptcy process.
“The Resolution Professional may submit an application as and when required, in accordance with law. In view of the above, these applications are dismissed as infructuous,” the bench said referring to some applications that had come before the court.
It is unclear which applications the bench was referring to. RP Patwardhan did not reply to an email seeking comments and clarifications. Lead lender Union Bank of India also did not reply to an email seeking comment.
Valor had filed an interlocutory application (IA) in the Mumbai National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking to be allowed to revise its resolution plan for debt-laden Lavasa Corp after competitor Welspun-Ashdan Developers consortium was allowed to modify its payment timeline.
Rival Writ
In September, Valor had petitioned the court after the Welspun-Ashdan consortium was allowed to change its payment timeline and all the plans were put to vote by the RP. The Valor IA is still pending. The company did not reply to ET’s email seeking comment.
The Welspun-Ashdan consortium proposed that it will complete its payment within four years, sooner than the five years it had asked earlier, giving it an edge over others. This was allowed by the RP and put to vote giving other bidders no chance to revise their plans.
Valor’s bid at ₹946 crore on an NPV basis was higher than Welspun-Ashdan’s ₹845 crore, and Mumbai-based Yogayatan Group’s ₹830 crore, before Welspun was allowed to tweak its plan, people familiar with the development said.
“But Welspun’s higher upfront cash commitment, their scale and financial strength, implementation credibility and institutional backing has given them the edge ” said a second person aware of the details.
Welspun-Ashdan combine has promised to pay a higher upfront amount of ₹65 crore compared to ₹50 crore by the competing Valor bid. It remains to be seen whether any litigants in the case challenge the decision of the RP to complete the voting in court.
