Adani Wilmar Pips Patanjali In Race For Ruchi Soya

Lenders of Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd. today identified Adani Wilmar as the highest bidder as part of its insolvency resolution process, in a setback to Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ltd.

Adani Wilmar's bid included Rs 4,300 crore worth repayment to lenders, along with equity infusion of Rs 1,714 crore into the company, two people in the know told BloombergQuint on the condition of anonymity. This was higher than the offer made by Patanjali Group which included a Rs 4,065 crore repayment and Rs 1,700 crore equity infusion.

Ruchi Soya owes Rs 9,115 crore to its financial creditors, with State Bank of India having the highest exposure of Rs 1,822 crore, according to information available on its website. Other lenders in Ruchi Soya's committee of creditors include Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank and IDBI Bank.

Adani Wilmar, Patanjali and SBI did not respond to BloombergQuint's queries.

Ruchi Soya lenders have already written to Adani Wilmar offering the company time till tomorrow to revise its bid if necessary, the people quoted above said. The CoC will conduct a Swiss auction in the case, in which Patanjali will also have an opportunity to increase its bid to compete with Adani Wilmar.

At the end of the auction process, Adani Wilmar will have right of first refusal. It may choose to better Patanjali's bid or bow out of the process.

As such, Patanjali has written to the CoC, opposing the appointment of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas both as the legal adviser to resolution professional Shailendra Ajmera as well as the highest bidder. In its letter, Patanjali has claimed that Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas' dual appointment has led to a conflict of interest. At the CoC meeting today, creditors took note of the letter and are likely to take a decision on the matter soon.

The Economic Times today reported that Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has already resigned as the legal adviser to Adani Wilmar. The law firm has also offered to resign as the legal adviser for Ajmera, one of the two people quoted above said.

BloombergQuint has not reviewed Patanjali's letter. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas did not respond to BloombergQuint's queries.