The response to Reliance Capital’s (RCap) insolvency proceedings continues to be tepid, with only a few applicants evincing interest, even as the deadline to submit the financial bids ends on Monday.

The serious contenders in the race include Yes Bank, Oaktree Capital, IndusInd Bank and a consortium led by Piramal Enterprises. This is in contrast to the nearly 54 expressions of interest (EOIs) the firm had received in March, sources close to the development said.

However, many of these firms, though actively in discussions with the administrator, are yet to submit final bids for the former Anil Ambani group company.

A couple of the bidders have also sought a further extension of the final date of submission, which has already been deferred five times now. The final deadline to complete the process is November 1, 2022.

Also Read: Reliance Capital bid deadline ends on Monday amid concerns of investors

The bidders were also seeking assets of another group firm, Reliance General Insurance Company (RGICL), valued at about Rs 5,000-6,000 crore, which were not part of the process earlier. At present, the assets of RGICL are not included in the insolvency process.

The entire shares of RGICL are currently held by IDBI Trusteeship Services (ITSL), which in its capacity as a debenture trustee of Credit Suisse, had invoked the shares in November 2019. Being the custodian of the shares, ITSL would have to submit it to the administrator for inclusion in the ongoing insolvency process.
On its part, ITSL was looking to recover its debt, but now with the commencement of the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), the administrator has sought to take control of the RGICL shares.

The bidders for RCap’s resolution process would be bidding under two options. Under option 1, they would bid for RCap as a core investment company, while the second option gives the bidders freedom to acquire different business clusters, either individually or in combination.

Due to the poor response, RCap’s lenders had earlier proposed to separate two group companies’ — Reliance Commercial Finance and Reliance Home Finance — assets into a separate trust to speed up the process. The CoC had also waived off the condition of an earnest money deposit of `75 crore on the first date of submission.