Mumbai: Eleven entities, including stressed asset aggregator JC Flowers, non-banking finance companies Capri Global and Authum Investment & Infrastructure, investment company Kotak Alternate Asset Managers besides the lead creditor Central Bank of India have expressed interest in bidding for either whole or parts of the debt-laden Future Enterprises (FEL), multiple people aware of the development said.
Lenders had divided the company’s assets into three clusters – the company’s stakes in insurance ventures, textile businesses and other residual stakes. Authum, Capri and JC Flowers are the three entities that have expressed interest in bidding for the whole company or all three clusters.
Four others including lead creditor Central Bank, Mumbai-based dredging, shipping and finance group M Pallongi & Co, Kotak Alternate Asset and Delhi-based financial consultancy Globe Capital have all bid for the company’s insurance stake.
Gujarat-based GHV India is the only entity that has bid for the second cluster which includes FEL’s 39% stake in two textile companies – Design and Apparels and Goldmohur Design and Apparels.
Kotak Alternate expressed interest but did not furnish the ₹10 crore deposit money.
Three other entities – Mumbai-based Brescon Realty, metal company Orissa Metaliks and Mumbai-based financial services company Uniworth Finlease have bid for the third cluster which includes all the residual investments of the company, including the two manufacturing units at Tarapur in Palghar district of Maharashtra and Mahadevapura, a suburb of Bengaluru.
Top executives from Authum, Capri and Central Bank confirmed that they have expressed interest in submitting a formal resolution plan. JC Flowers CEO Rahul Gupta declined to comment. All the other entities could not be reached for comment.
“The company has around a 25% stake in both life and general insurance companies, which is the main reason for interest among bidders. Even those that have bid for the whole company are eyeing the insurance stake because it gives them an entry into the fast-growing insurance business,” said one of the bidders.
Resolution professional (RP) Avil Menezes will now call for formal proposals from the bidders within the next month. Menezes did not reply to an email seeking comments.
FEL owes 26 creditors led by Central Bank of India and its arm Centbank Financial Services a total of ₹13,540 crore.
Last month, lenders had voted to restart the bidding process, after rejecting the ₹301 crore offer by Kolkata-based steel tubes and pipes maker Jindal (India), which amounted to just above 2% recovery on the total admitted claims.
