Apollo Global Management LLC and Varde Partners LP are no longer considering bidding for Altico Capital India Ltd, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, as they are unwilling to meet creditor demands to inject as much as Rs 2,000 crore ($280 million) of fresh equity into the non-banking financial company.
That leaves Cerberus Capital Management LP, SSG Capital Management, and Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd in the race for the real-estate focused lender that defaulted on interest payments in September. Previously, a media report disclosed that Brookfield is also in the race.
Meanwhile, The Economic Times disclosed that Adani Power and NTPC Ltd are in the race to acquire a 1,260 megawatt (MW) Jhabua thermal power plant of Gautam Thapar’s Avantha Group. The stressed project is undergoing resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Jhabua Power Ltd, promoted by the Avantha Group to set up a coal-based thermal power project at Seoni district in Madhya Pradesh, faced land acquisition and funding issues leading to time and cost overruns. Lack of power purchase agreements also added to its woes, persons in the know said. It has 600 MW operational power generation capacity, while 660 MW is under implementation. It has debt claims of more than Rs 5,000 crore, the report said.
NTPC, the country’s largest power producer, has bid for a stressed project for the first time. Gautam Adani-led Adani Power, on the other hand, is on a buying spree, its recent acquisition being GMR Infrastructure’s 1,370 MW coal-based power plant in Chhattisgarh.