Adani, Poonawala and Piramal keen on acquiring Reliance Capital
Adani, Poonawala and Piramal keen on acquiring Reliance Capital
The Company was launched in 1986 with much fanfare
Over 14 prominent firms, including Adani Finserve, Poonawala Finance, Piramal Finance and Kolkata Knight Riders have expressed interest in acquiring Anil Ambani's debt-ridden Reliance Capital Limited.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-appointed administrator has extended the last date for the submission of bids to March 25 from March 11. The deadline was extended as some bidders sought more time to complete the process of submitting the Expression of Interest (EOI) to acquire the non-banking finance company (NBFC).
The other prestigious firms that submitted EOIs include ArpWood, Varde Partners, Multiples Fund, Nippon Life, JC Flowers, Brookfield, Oaktree, Apollo Global, Blackstone, and Hero Fincorp.
In November last, the Central Bank had superseded the Board of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group due to defaults and governance issues. The company had defaulted on loans worth Rs.8,3138.8 crores.
RBI also superseded two other major NBFC's Srei Group and Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) last year under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
While most of the firms are keen on acquiring the entire company, the rule also says that the applicant can either bid for the entire company or any one or more of the eight subsidiaries of the Ambani-led company.
The prominent subsidiaries of Reliance Capital are Reliance General Insurance, Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, Reliance Securities, Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company, Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance.
As of December last quarter, the total debt of Reliance Capital stood at Rs.27,100 crores while its net worth was reported at Rs.8,195 crores on a consolidated basis at negative Rs.13,700 crores.
The RBI had appointed Nageswar Rao Y, former executive director of Bank of Maharashtra, administrator of Reliance Capital to oversee the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the NBFC. Thereafter, in February, it had invited bids for the sale of the company.
Registered as an NBFC Core Investment Company-Non-Deposit under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, Reliance Capital was formed in March 1986.
