GAIL top bidder for IL&FS'S 7 operating wind power plants

NATIONAL GAS COMPANY'S OFFER OF ABOUT `4,800 CRORE FOR 100% ENTERPRISE VALUE CONTEMPLATES NO HAIR CUT TO DEBT OF SPVS, WHICH AGGREGATES NEARLY `3,700 crore

MUMBAI: Debt-laden Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) Monday said GAIL (India) has emerged as the highest bidder for its seven operating wind power plants.

The bidding process to these assets having 12 sites spread across seven states was launched in November last year.

"Gail's offer of approximately Rs 4,800 crore for 100 percent enterprise value contemplates no hair-cut to the debt of the SPVS, aggregating to nearly Rs 3,700 crore,' the company said in a release.

These wind power assets have a total generation capacity of 874 MW.

The proposal was approved by the committee of creditors of IL&FS Wind Energy (IWEL), majority owner of the SPVS, it said.

The company said engagement with the ORIX Japan, the other shareholders in the SPVS, with regard to the proposal is in progress, and the deal is expected to close in three weeks, it said. The sale proceeds will be distributed as per the resolution framework filed with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) by the government,the company said.

The closure of the deal will be subject to approval of Justice (Retd) D K Jain and NCLT.

The Uday Kotak-led board of IL&FS group, as part of the resolution process has initiated sale of a number of group assets.

Sale process for assets including education, funds, roads and thermal power plant are currently underway and binding financial bids are expected for these companies in stages by May 2019, it said.

Under the resolution plan, the government has categorised IL&FS group companies into green, amber and red categories based on their financial position.

Firms classified as "green" would continue to meet their payment obligations, while "amber" companies can meet only operational payment obligations to senior secured financial creditors. The "red" firms are the entities which cannot meet their payment obligations at all.

Thousands of crores of money of more than 15 lakh employees of both public and private sector companies have exposure to IL&FS bonds. As these investments were classified as unsecured debt, the funds feared that all money would be lost if all market-related risks fell on them.