Days after a consortium led by the Piramal Group decided to pull out of the bidding process for Anil Ambani’s debt-ridden Reliance Capital, the Hinduja Group attempted to raise its own bid. Hinduja, a promoter behind IndusInd Bank, reportedly plans to make an offer of Rs 9,500 crore for Reliance Capital, which will include an upfront cash payment of Rs 8,800 crore.
Its previous bid was Rs 8,110 crore on December 21 and the firm is yet to respond to queries. With this it is likely to beat the highest bidder so far, which is Ahmedabad-based Torrent Group, which has offered Rs 8,640 crore for the non-banking financial company.
But reports suggest that Hinduja’s plan to change the bid after the auction has been derailed by the challenge mechanism. The re-auction of Reliance Capital is also the first of its kind under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order has set a deadline of January 31, 2023, for the lenders to complete the resolution process.
Currently, Reliance Capital is the third largest NBFC after Srei Group NBFC and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) against which RBI has initiated bankruptcy proceedings.
The RBI administrator had invited expressions of interest for Reliance Capital in February 2022.