State-owned GAIL (India) has emerged as the successful bidder to acquire debt-laden JBF Petrochemicals, following the approval of its resolution plan by the latter’s Committee of Creditors (CoC). The firm now needs approvals from the bankruptcy tribunal to complete the process.

The resolution professional informed that GAIL has been declared a successful resolution applicant. The resolution plan of GAIL (India) has been approved as per the requirements of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the company said in a regulatory update.

As per the terms of the Request For Resolution Plan (RFRP), GAIL (India) will now have to submit a ‘performance security’ and subsequently get approvals from the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) Ahmedabad bench, it added.

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Others in the fray included firms such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Reliance Industries (RIL), Indian Oil Corporation and Jindal Group-backed firms among others. JBF Petrochemicals, which was admitted to NCLT in February this year, has a total outstanding debt of Rs 5,000 crore.

The NCLT had appointed BDO-backed Sundaresh Bhat as interim resolution professional, who had later admitted claims worth Rs 4,701 crore.

The company has the highest exposure to IDBI Bank, while other lenders include Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Baroda, EXIM Bank and Union Bank of India.

GAIL (India) is believed to have submitted a resolution plan of about Rs 2,100 crore.

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JBF Petrochemicals was set up in 2008 with a view to commission a 1.25 million tonne per annum capacity (MTPA) purified terephthalic acid plant – a raw material for polyester fibre – at Mangalore Special Economic Zone.

Set up in 1982, JBF Industries was founded by Bhagirath Arya as a yarn-texturising company and later it expanded to polyester chips, partially-oriented yarn and polyester film. It also had overseas presence through a polyester chip plant set up in 2005 in the UAE. Earlier in August, RIL took over the secured assets of JBF Industries — the parent company of JBF Petrochemicals– from CFM Asset Reconstruction Company, under a separate process and as per the SARFAESI Act. It had defaulted on loans worth Rs 2,500 crore and the lenders had moved the bankruptcy court in February.