Only two potential bidders for ~37k-cr Aamby Valley auction

Only two potential bidders are believed to have shown interest for embattled Sahara group’s super luxurious Aamby Valley resort town, which has been put up for a Supreme Court-ordered auction by the official liquidator at a reserve price of ~37,392 crore.

The identity of the bidders is not known as the exercise is being carried out under strict observation of the SC, but officials privy to the information have said only two parties have submitted their knowyour-customer (KYC) details, as required for the initial steps of the auction process.

While refusing to name them, citing strict confidentiality, they said the two parties appear to be representatives of separate consortium of investors and corporates.

Realty consultants also argued that it would be almost impossible for any single player in India to buy such a huge property, as the sector is going through a severe cash crunch.

The only possible buyers could be from China or Japan, a consultant said, but added that there were indeed a couple of cash-rich industrialists in India who could afford such a price tag but have been so far away from real estate as a business. The property was described by the liquidator as an “ultra- exclusive chartered city” that includes timber chalets, modern villas, golf course, hospital, school and airport, among other amenities.

The official liquidator of the Bombay High Court published an auction notice last month inviting bidders for the integrated hill city township spread over 6,761.6 acres near Lonavala in Pune district, as also two land parcels measuring over 1,700 acres.

The auction has been initiated even as a Mauritius-based investor, Royale Partners Investment Fund, signed a pact with Sahara offering to invest $1.67 billion (over ~10,700 crore) in the project.

Sahara, which pegs the project’s market valuation at over ~1 lakh crore, had earlier said the liquidator has initiated only first two steps of the auction by issuing an advertisement and verifying their KYC and the sale would be withdrawn if ~1,500 crore is deposited before the next date of hearing in the SC.

Sahara has been engaged in a long-running battle with the capital market regulator Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India).

The SC on September 11, had refused to stay the auction, even after the group said Royale Partners Investment Fund had agreed to provide a loan against security of 26 per cent shares of Aamby Valley. The SC directed the official liquidator to go ahead with the scheduled auction and rejected Group Chief Subrata Roy’s plea for more time. The directions came after Roy said he had deposited ~533.20 crore in the Sebi-Sahara account and wanted to pay the remaining ~966.80 crore through cheques dated November 11.

The auction has been scheduled for October 10-11.

The only possible buyers could be from China or Japan, a consultant said