Vedanta had emerged as the highest bidder for Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL) with a ₹17,000 crore offer in an electronic auction in September. Lenders, however, chose to go with Adani Enterprises because it offered higher upfront payments, according to the people.
The net present value of Adani Enterprises’ bid was lower by around ₹500 crore in comparison to Vedanta’s, they said. However, ET was unable to identify the exact bid amount that Adani quoted. One person termed the difference in the overall plan value between the two sides “significant.”
The voting concluded at 9 pm on Tuesday.
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A score sheet prepared last week by the committee of creditors had given the highest points to Adani Enterprises. Its bid was scored out of 100. However, some of the lenders have challenged the scoring mechanism, according to people in the know.
National Asset Reconstruction Company is the largest creditor of Jaiprakash Associates.
JAL owes creditors ₹55,000 crore. The company was admitted for insolvency proceedings in June last year. It is being administered by Deloitte-backed resolution professional Bhuvan Madan. He didn’t respond to ET’s queries.
The lenders’ decision to vote for Adani Enterprises could be tested legally because it was not the highest bidder, said one of the persons cited earlier, who did not wish to be identified. However, courts have usually upheld the commercial wisdom of lenders in making choices about resolution of stressed accounts.
Resolution plans were submitted by five players originally. Besides Adani and Vedanta, they included Dalmia Bharat, Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Power and PNC Infratech. Dalmia Bharat had emerged as the highest bidder initially but its offer was said to be conditional. It did not participate in the electronic auction held subsequently.
ET reported earlier this month that JAL’s promoters led by Manoj Gaur had offered a ₹₹18,000 crore settlement to the creditors to take the company out of insolvency proceedings.
However, the creditors felt Gaur could not provide sufficient proof of financial backing for his offer. Jaiprakash Associates, the flagship of the Jaypee Group, has a portfolio ranging from cement, power, engineering and hospitality to real estate and sports infrastructure. Its sports city project in Greater Noida is spread over 1,000 hectares.
