The insolvency proceedings at Reliance Capital Ltd. took a surprising turn as one of its leading bidders sought to withdraw a higher offer it had made earlier in the year.
At a recent meeting with key financial creditors, Hinduja Group Ltd. has said it intends to withdraw its Rs 9,000-crore offer for Reliance Capital and retain its old offer of Rs 8,110 crore, two people in the know of the matter confirmed.
This reversal in stance by Hinduja Group has put up further challenges in an already contentious bidding process at Reliance Capital that had started in January. Creditors are currently in discussions with Hinduja Group to continue with its Rs 9,000-crore offer. However, a final decision is pending.
In the previous rounds of bidding conducted by the creditors, Hinduja Group submitted an enhanced offer of Rs 9,000 crore after the closure of the bid to dwarf Torrent Group's Rs 8,640-crore winning bid. This had led to questions regarding process sanctity being raised by Torrent Group, which first went to the NCLAT and to the Supreme Court later.
The creditors were in the process of conducting a fresh auction for Reliance Capital after the Supreme Court allowed them to do so. According to the first person quoted above, challenger Torrent Group has said it will not participate in the new bid if the process is not cleaned up.
The Supreme Court is yet to decide on Torrent Group's challenge to the process, but has also not stayed the proceedings at Reliance Capital.
Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital was placed under insolvency proceedings in December 2021 after the RBI suspended the board of the company and appointed an administrator. Financial creditors have claims worth over Rs 25,000 crore.
Queries emailed to Torrent Group, Hinduja Group and Reliance Capital's administrator Y Nageswar Rao remained unanswered.
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