Creditors seek fresh bids for Monnet Ispat, Jyoti Structures

MUMBAI: Creditors of Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd and Jyoti Structures Ltd have called for fresh bids from potential suitors of the two companies that are in bankruptcy court, citing new criteria to assess bidders, two people with direct knowledge of the development said.

The deadline for the submission of re-bids will end this week, said the two people, who requested anonymity.

Both Jyoti Structures and Monnet Ispat, facing bankruptcy proceedings in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), have separately received only one binding offer.

AION Capital Partners Ltd and JSW Steel Ltd made a binding offer for Monnet Ispat; Jyoti Structures, which received initial interest from several potential acquirers, finally got a single binding offer from a consortium of high net-worth individuals (HNIs).

An email requesting comment sent to Vandana Garg, the interim resolution professional (IRP) in charge of Jyoti Structures, remained unanswered as of press time.

A spokesperson of Sumit Binani, the IRP for Monnet Ispat, declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.

“The lenders, which include both private and public sectors banks, have decided to introduce a weightage-based evaluation and scoring system that will be henceforth applicable to all bidders looking to acquire assets up for change in control and resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code ( IBC),” said one of the two people cited above.

“The IRPs have accordingly shared the copies of the circular listing the changes in evaluation criteria with all potential bidders.”

According to the circular, a copy of which was reviewed by Mint, potential bidders will be assessed on both quantitative and qualitative parameters.

Emails sent to JSW Steel, AION Capital and Manish Kejriwal, co-founder of private equity fund Kedaara Capital, who is part of the HNI consortium that has bid for Jyoti Structures remained unanswered.