In a move that may further delay debt-laden Reliance Capital’s (RCap) bankruptcy process, its administrator intends to seek a 90-day extension for completion of the former Anil Ambani group firm’s entire resolution process.
The administrator wants the deadline to be extended to February 1, 2023. As per the current schedule, the timeline to file the final resolution plan before the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) Mumbai bench ends on November 1.
The RBI-appointed administrator for RCap’s insolvency process is slated to move NCLT’s Mumbai bench for the extension “soon”, sources close to the development said.
In case the tribunal approves the request, this would be the third extension, as the deadline for the completion of the entire resolution process was extended twice earlier.
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As per the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the entire resolution process should be completed within 180 days, which in the case of RCap ended earlier on June 3.
The plan to seek an extension is backed by requests from bidders who had sought more time to complete due diligence processes of RCap’s group firms.
The bidders were also not happy with the deadline to submit the binding bids, which was extended many times – the latest being in September — and now ends on October 30.
The bidders were seeking an extension of about 2-4 months, as they were of the opinion that the four-week extension from the earlier September 29 deadline was not enough to complete the due diligence processes.
A consortium led by Piramal Enterprises had sought an extension of 12 weeks, while Advent International wanted a 16-week extension till January 30, 2023. IndusInd Bank had sought a 10-week extension, that by Oaktree Capital was 12 weeks, and Zurich Insurance wanted an 8-week extension, sources had earlier told FE.
According to sources, Piramal Group and Zurich Insurance were planning to form a joint venture for taking over Reliance General Insurance, an RCap subsidiary. Separately, Gujarat-based Torrent Group was likely to place a bid for Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, a joint venture between RCap and Japan’s Nippon Life Insurance, which did not get any bids during the bankruptcy process.
Earlier on November 29, 2021, RBI had superseded RCap’s board following payment defaults and governance issues, and appointed Nageswara Rao Y as the administrator for the bankruptcy process.
The regulator also filed an application for initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against RCap before NCLT.
