Gail Ltd Gail to acquire debt-ridden JBF Petrochemicals as lenders approve transaction
New Delhi: India's leading gas trading, transmission, and petrochemicals company Gail Ltd has received the letter of intent from lenders, paving the way for the public sector firm to acquire the debt-ridden JBF Petrochemicals through the insolvency route, media reports said.
The letter of intent was issued on Sunday, Economic Times reported citing people aware of the matter, adding that post this the company will have to deposit 10 percent of its bid value or Rs 200 crore as a bank guarantee by Wednesday.
The lenders approved Gail's plan to take over the company by an absolute 100 percent majority on October 15, according to the report.
Gail's proposal is superior in both operational as well as the financial matrix, the people said, as per the ET report.
As soon as the bank guarantee amount is deposited, the resolution officer will approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for approval.
It is a rare instance that a government-owned enterprise is buying out a distressed company since the formation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code came into force in 2016.
Gail's Rs 2015 crore offer that allows all lenders to take a nearly 60 percent haircut was comfortably ahead of Rs 1,015 crore offered by a consortium of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation at the end of two rounds of bidding.
JBF Petrochemicals manufactures Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), which is used to make polyester value chain products used in consumer goods, textile and packaging industries such as PET bottles used to sell soft drinks. The company has a 1.25-million-tonne PTA plant in Mangalore, according to the ET report.
It owes creditors a total of $463 million (about Rs 3,658 crore) in principal, mainly from external commercial borrowings and foreign currency term loans, the report said.
IDBI, which is the lead creditor, owes $252 million of loans outstanding, followed by other lenders like Exim Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Union Bank of India, it said
Total outstanding, including debt, is close to Rs 5,000 crore, it added.
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