Yogayatan knocks on NCLT's doors over lenders' decision to allow revised bids for Lavasa

Economic Times

3 hours ago

Synopsis
Yogayatan Group has filed a petition with the NCLT, opposing the lenders' decision to allow revised resolution plans for Lavasa Corp after Yogayatan emerged as the highest bidder. The company fears that Valor Estates' increased bid after the initial offers were opened could compromise the integrity and timeline of the CIRP process.
Environmental issues and lack of crucial clearances by the government forced Lavasa's bankruptcy in 2018. Mumbai-based Yogayatan Group has filed a petition in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) opposing creditors' move to allow revised resolution plans for taking over the debt-laden Lavasa Corp.As reported by ET in its August 1 edition, Yogayatan had emerged as the highest bidder with its bid of Rs 795 crore on a net present value (NPV) basis after bidders had been given an opportunity to improve their offers after the first round of bidding last month.
But after the bids were opened, Valor Estates, formerly DB Realty, which had not placed a revised bid, said it wanted to now increase its bid. The Mumbai-based company has offered to increase its bid to Rs 806 crore on an NPV basis.Following this higher bid, lenders decided to give all bidders a chance to revise their resolution plans earlier this month. Yogayatan's NCLT plea is against this decision by lenders.Yogayatan managing director Ameya Pratap Singh confirmed his company's move in response to an ET query.
"Yogayatan Group has approached the NCLT with the intention that the CIRP (corporate insolvency resolution process) of Lavasa is completed in a time-bound manner and the sanctity of the process is not vitiated to unfairly favour any party. For any bidder to offer to increase its bid after the financial offer of other bidders has been publicly disclosed is, in our opinion, dubious and legally untenable," Singh said in an email reply.EY-backed resolution professional Udayraj Patwardhan did not reply to an email seeking comment.Yogayatan's plea comes as lenders struggle to close the seven-year-old resolution process. Last year, lenders had to pull the plug on a Rs 1,814 crore plan approved in July 2023 from Darwin Platform Infrastructure (DPIL) after that company failed to pay its committed upfront amount in the specified timeframe.Lenders have given bidders time till next week to revise their resolution plans.Environmental issues and lack of crucial clearances by the government forced Lavasa's bankruptcy in 2018. Even at the highest bid, the total recovery is less than 13% of dues of over Rs 6,642 crore, after more than seven years of struggle. The new threat of litigation may delay resolution for India's first privately built and managed city.