The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has reserved its order on Vedanta’s two petitions against the selection of Adani Enterprises’ bid to acquire debt-ridden Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) through an insolvency process.
A two-member NCLAT bench comprising Chairperson Ashok Bhushan and Member Technical Barun Mitra concluded its hearing following arguments from Vedanta and respondents, including the Resolution Professional, Committee of Creditors (CoC) and Adani Enterprises.
It asked both parties to submit written submissions within the next two days.
Developments so far
Vedanta’s counsel questioned the evaluation metrics adopted by JAL lenders, who selected the bid from Adani Enterprises offering Rs 14,535 crore and rejected Vedanta’s higher bid of Rs 17,926 crore.
On March 24, the NCLAT declined to grant an interim stay on the Vedanta Group’s plea against the NCLT order of March 17 approving Adani Group’s bid.
However, it had said that the plan would be subject to the outcome of the appeals filed by the Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group.
This NCLAT order was challenged before the Supreme Court, which declined to grant a stay. However, the apex court directed that if the monitoring committee planned to take any major policy decision, it should first obtain the Tribunal’s sanction.
Adani Enterprises outbid Vedanta and Dalmia Bharat to win the JAL bid. Adani got the maximum 89 percent of the votes from creditors, followed by Dalmia Cement (Bharat) and Vedanta Group.
CoC arguments
The CoC defended its decision, saying the process complied with all Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) rules. They maintained that no bidder has a guaranteed right to win, even if it offers the highest value.
They said plans were evaluated on multiple factors, including upfront cash, feasibility, and execution, not just headline value.
JAL, which has high-quality assets and business interests spanning real estate, cement manufacturing, hospitality, power, and engineering & construction, was admitted to the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) in June 2024, after it defaulted on payments of loans aggregating Rs 57,185 crore.
It also has investments in subsidiaries, including Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd, Yamuna Expressway Tolling Ltd, Jaypee Infrastructure Development Ltd, and several other companies.