Has a combined debt of about Rs 12,000 crore; SBI, Srei Infra, KEC and Alstom are among the lenders
After Electrosteel Steel, Manoj Jaiswal-promoted Abhijeet Group could be the second instance of takeover of a private sector company by a strategic partner at the behest of banks.
The consortium of bankers led by State Bank of India as well as private players like Srei Infra, KEC and Alstom are trying to salvage the troubled Abhijeet Group, which, on a combined level, has a massive debt of about Rs 12,000 crore.
The move to revive the various projects of Abhijeet Group follows a ruling of the Calcutta High Court, which had turned down a petition for winding up Corporate Ispat Alloys, the flagship company of the group, through sale of assets.
Corporate Ispat is engaged in ferroalloys, steel, mining and power in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Jharkhand.
The consortium of bankers to Corporate Ispat had submitted before the court that all movable and immovable properties of the company are secured in their favour, and the banks are entitled to take steps in accordance with law against such securities.
Besides the petition for winding up Corporate Ispat, numerous other cases had been filed at the Calcutta High Court against various group companies. The court clubbed all those cases and turned them into a kind of class action suit.
The High Court had said, "It is submitted by the consortium of banks and by the companies that an active process is on for the transfer of the management in the companies and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is also considering the proposal for foreign partners or promoters to be brought in."
"Though there is every reason to wind up the company on its failure to pay its debts, there is a slight possibility that a new set of promoters may take over the business of the company, which would imply that the liabilities of the erstwhile employees of the company may also be taken over by the new promoters," Calcutta High Court had said in October.
The creditors have now started looking for a strategic investor to helm the group instead.
Interestingly, the court gave the last chance to revive the company despite a submission by promoters that it has no money to pay even token amount to any of its creditors.
Abhijeet Group has a long list of creditors that comprises banks, Srei Infra, KEC, Alstom, Paharpur Cooling Towers, among others.
Ever since the group went down, its lenders have been making various attempts to realise money without much success. IDBI Bank tied to auction off Jaiwal's 10-seater Bombardier aircraft even as Paharpur Cooling tried to scuttle it; while Srei tried to take over the Chandwa power project in Jharkhand.
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