Deadline for Srei resolution extended for third time, new date is Aug 10

RBI superseded group firms in October 2021 over governance concerns and payment defaults

The deadline for submitting resolution plans for Srei group firms, which are undergoing the corporate insolvency process, has been extended for the third time—to August 10 in the new change.

According to sources, four prospective applicants had requested lenders for an extension of the deadline. Srei administrator Rajneesh Sharma declined to comment. The deadline earlier was July 30.

Arena Investors, LP and VFSI Holdings, an affiliate of Varde Partners, are three resolution applicants understood to be interested in Srei. Varde and Arena declined to comment.

Arena was interested in investing Rs 2,000 crore in Srei Equipment Finance before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the boards of the two companies last year.

Representations were made before the committee of creditors (CoC), which met interested parties on July 27.

The list of prospective resolution applicants that were finalised after expression of interest (EOI) comprised 13 entities. It included: Vedanta, Assets Care & Reconstruction Enterprise Limited, Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Limited, Diameter Trading Private Limited, International Asset Reconstruction Company Private Limited, JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company Limited, Jindal Power Limited, Prudent ARC Limited, Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors Limited, Riddi Siddhi Gluco Biols Limited (lead partner) & Sherisha Technologies Private Limited, Shon Randhawa (lead partner) & Rajesh Viren Shah, apart from Arena and VFSI.

Even though the deadline for the resolution plan has been extended, the aim is to file the resolution plan with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for approval before September 4.

The RBI, in October 2021, superseded the boards of Srei Infrastructure Finance and Srei Equipment Finance over governance concerns and payment defaults. The admitted list of claims by financial creditors as of November 2021 is Rs 31,867.75 crore.