Abhijeet Group pays half the dues to prevent liquidation

NAGPUR: Facing liquidation proceedings, Corporate Power Ltd (CPL), an Abhijeet Group company, got a breather. This week it paid Rs 7 lakh amounting to half of the dues claimed by two former employees who had filed a winding up petition before Calcutta High Court. The remaining amount will be paid by mid-April.
The court had issued winding up orders against CPL in February, after which the company filed a recalling petition and sought time till mid-April to clear the dues.As it has paid half the dues, the company can be saved from liquidation if it pays the second installment in time. Under liquidation, assets of a company are sold out to pay all the creditors who stake a claim. In CPL’s case, creditors include banks that have lent over Rs 4,800 crore.
The banks, on other hand, are looking for a strategic investor in the company to buy the shares pledged to lenders. After the second round of bidding, banks have ended up with only one bidder. Though Adani Group and India Power had bid for CPL’s shares, the latter’s bid was rejected in technical round, said a banking source. This left Adani Group as the sole bidder. Spokespersons of both Adani and India Power preferred not to comment.
Though no decision has been taken yet, it has left the banks wary of going ahead with sale. The current offer is far less compared to the amount owed by CPL. If it is accepted, a sizable part of the loan will have to be written off, which may not be an agreeable proposition. “A final decision on accepting the bid or not shall be taken in due course. There may be a more negotiations,” said a banker.
Under the present offer, banks are going for a plain sale of shares pledged with them. Whatever falls short after that can be written off from the loan account. An earlier plan entailed upfront waiver of Rs 1700 crore and an additional finance of Rs 3,000 crore. In this, bids were invited keeping an original offer by India Power as the base. Now this very company is out in technical round when bids were invited fresh but without any frills. Banks had gone for an open offer to see if they could get a better deal compared to that offered by India Power, which was kept as base.
Though major players in power sectors like BHEL and Tata Group had purchased bid documents under the earlier offer, none of the companies finally bid.