Last year a consortium led by Haldiram Snacks and two property developers, namely Pioneer Facor IT Infradevelopers and Sanar Property had expressed interest in bidding for the hill city. It is unclear whether they have submitted final bids.
MUMBAI: The Committee of Creditors (COC) of Lavasa will be meeting on Monday to consider and take a call on bids received from interested entities to acquire the country’s first proposed privately developed city. The resolution process is also expected to start immediately after that, said two persons with direct knowledge of the development.
"Friday is the last day for submissions of bids. We are expecting at least three to four bids. The committee of creditors will open the bids and take them into consideration at its meeting on Monday which is when we will have details on the bids," said a person familiar with the process.
Last year a consortium led by Haldiram Snacks and two property developers, namely Pioneer Facor IT Infradevelopers and Sanar Property had expressed interest in bidding for the hill city. It is unclear whether they have submitted final bids.
“All bids are expected only on the last day so we will wait for the day to get over. We are expecting some interest and hopefully the final resolution process can start immediately next week. There is a chance that some bidders may want more time to make their offer and the CoC may also consider the same,” said another person familiar with the process.
Set up in 2000 by the Ajit Gulabchand-led Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), Lavasa was developing the country’s first privately developed city spread over 20,000 acres in Mulshi and Velhe areas in Maharasthra’s Pune district. However, the project has been entangled in various issues including environmental violations and land acquisition.
After Lavasa and its subsidiaries defaulted on debt obligations, the lenders had sought for debt resolution through the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in August 2018 under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. As of January, lenders had claimed over Rs 7,700 crore from Lavasa Corporation and its subsidiaries.
At the time of admitting it for the resolution process, Ajit Gulabchand-promoted Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) owned 68.7% stake in Lavasa. Other key shareholders included Gautam Thapar’s Avantha Group with 17.18%, Venkateshwara Hatcheries with 7.81%, and Vithal Maniar with 6.29% stake.
Union Bank of India, L&T Infrastructure Finance, Asset Reconstruction Company of India and Bank of India are key lenders to the project.
The Mumbai bench of NCLT had approved the request of Lavasa’s lenders to consolidate the township developer and its wholly-owned subsidiaries Warasgaon Assets Maintenance and Dasve Convention Centre as one. A consolidated entity will get better valuation when they are liquidated under the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), the lenders had told the dedicated court
