Lenders to the debt-laden home financier Altico Capital have sought revised bids for the company by the extended deadline of February 7, two people familiar with the matter told ET, after the offers received to date failed to secure the green signal of both private and state-run banks. The earlier deadline was January 24.
Lenders could not come to any conclusion among themselves after SSG Capital and the Clearwater-led management submitted separate bids.
“There is an apparent difference of opinion between state-owned lenders and foreign lenders. Revised bids are being sought to ensure that lenders converge,” one of the persons cited above told ET.
Altico Capital and SSG Captial didn’t comment on the matter. Others could not be contacted immediately.
Also, lenders are seeking higher allocation for upfront repayments. Lenders look for improvement in bids with a partial undertaking on repayment proposals, sources said. Lenders aim to take an undertaking from key backer of any bid in its revised form, which in turn adds to confidence in getting their money back.
The real estate financier is seeking debt resolution of over Rs 4,000 crore.
Bidders have offered a combination of solutions. These included making 50% upfront repayments and the balance in a staggered manner, linked to cash flows.
Apparently, there is also a proposal offering no haircut in principal payments. Interest repayments have been linked to the banks’ Marginal Cost of Fund based Lending Rate (MCLR) in the next three-to-five years.
SSG, Altico’s existing management, and Cerebus are said to be working on revised bid submissions.
After the re-submission of bids, lenders are expected to meet on February 12 and likely to put the matter for voting in the next two weeks.
Deutsche Bank, with more than a Rs 300-crore exposure, is now a part of the steering committee of lenders.
Mashreq Bank, Yes Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, and SBI are among other lenders in the committee of eight-nine such banks. There are over two dozen lenders that lent to the company, backed by foreign private equity investors including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Clearwater Capital and Varde.
Clearwater is backing the Altico’s existing management bid. If the bid is accepted, Clearwater will take full control of the non-banking finance company.
February 06, 2020