MUMBAI : Liberty House and Deccan Value have bid for bankrupt Castex Technologies, a subsidiary of Amtek Auto, with both offering about 20 per cent of overdues, said two senior bank officials who did not want to be identified.
“We have received two binding bids and both the offers are in the range of Rs 1,400 crore to Rs 1,500 crore,” said a senior person who did not wish to be named. “By the end of this month, the resolution professional will decide the eligibility of the two candidates and advise lenders which offer is better for them,” he said.
If the offer is accepted by the lenders, it will mean that they will have to forgo 80 per cent of the loan amount. “Lenders will negotiate for a higher price,” said the bankers. Castex Technologies is facing Rs 7,391-crore claim from financial creditors and Rs 53 crore from operational creditors. Earlier this week, Sundaresh Bhat, the resolution professional of ABG Shipyard, had declared that a bid from Liberty House was ineligible under Section 29(A) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Court, implying that they have been classified as defaulter by some Indian lenders.
Close to 98 per cent of the lenders have voted in favour of Liberty House for Amtex Auto a month ago. “The RP, Dinkar Venkatasubramanian, will therefore have to decide on the eligibility of Liberty House before arriving at the highest bidder,” said a bank official. Venkatasubramanian is the RP for Amtek Auto. SBI has the highest exposure of Rs 1,321 crore in Castex, implying 17 per cent share of the loan, and will be very critical in deciding the fate of the company. Castex Technologies, a casting component manufacturer for the automotive sector, was admitted for corporate insolvency resolution on December 20, 2017. Amtek Auto and three of its subsidiaries — Castex Tehnologies, Metalyst Forgings and ARGL — are facing insolvency proceedings, and they have combined overdues in the range of Rs 23,000 crore.
Amtek Auto is among the first list of 12 companies that the Reserve Bank of India had directed banks in June last year to refer to the National Company Law Tribunal.
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