(LiveMint)
UltraTech Cement Ltd has upped the ante in its bid to acquire debt-laden Binani Cement Ltd by initiating talks with its parent Binani Industries Ltd outside the bankruptcy process. This adds a fresh twist to Binani Cement’s resolution and will test the bankruptcy framework as courts will now to have to decide if a counter-offer can be accepted after the creditor committee had declared a Dalmia Bharat-led consortium as the winning bidder.
Separately, on Monday, the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) allowed the resolution professional to file the resolution plan submitted by the Dalmia consortium, despite opposition from UltraTech and the Binani group.UltraTech Cement, India’s largest cement maker, informed the stock exchanges on Monday that it was willing to pay Rs7,266 crore to acquire Binani Industries’ 98.43% stake in its cement unit “subject to termination” of insolvency proceedings. UltraTech’s board also agreed to issue a letter of comfort to Binani Industries, committing Rs7,266 crore funding, as the Braj Binani-led firm seeks to stop insolvency proceedings of the cement unit.
