Swan Energy, the successful resolution applicant for Reliance Naval and Engineering (RNEL), has made an upfront payment of Rs 50 crore as per the agreement with the financial creditors.
The upfront payment was released as agreed and consented to by the secured financial creditors, the company said in a regulatory update.
In 2022, Swan Energy, in partnership with Hazel Mercantile, emerged as the winner to acquire the debt-laden RNEL, with 95% of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) approving its resolution plan. The companies had agreed to acquire RNEL through a special purpose vehicle, Hazel Infra.
The payment comes after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Ahmedabad bench had directed Swan Energy to make an upfront payment of about Rs 250 crore. The tribunal, which heard Swan Energy’s plea seeking an extension to make the payment on October 5, directed it to make the upfront payment before the next hearing, scheduled for November 22.
The payment is in addition to the Rs 50 crore paid in many tranches on directions of NCLT to keep the RNEL as a going concern.
The present deadline to make the payment, which was postponed twice, had ended on September 14. Swan Energy approached NCLT seeking another extension of two months.
According to the resolution plan submitted by Swan Energy, the consortium had to make an upfront payment of Rs 293 crore to the lenders by March 23, 2023. However, the deadline was then extended to July 23, and again on August 1, it was extended to September 14.
SKIL Infrastructure, promoted by industrialist Nikhil Gandhi, was the original promoter of Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering, which was sold to the Reliance ADA Group in 2015 and then renamed RNEL.