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The resolution professional for Sical Logistics Ltd has invited fresh bids for reviving the bankrupt firm earlier owned by the Coffee Day Group.
The move follows a meeting of the committee of creditors on November 18 wherein it was decided to give three weeks more to all the 26 entities who had filed their expression of interest and were qualified to bid in the earlier round. Of the 26, three entities, including Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects Pvt Ltd, submitted their resolution plans for Sical Logistics at the corporate level.
The other bidder was a real estate firm backed by an asset reconstruction company and the third was Ambey Mining Pvt Ltd, a joint venture partner of Sical Logistics in one of the mining, development and operations (MDO) business.
The lenders panel also asked the resolution professional to allow new entities — other than the 26 — to participate in the fresh round of bidding, multiple sources briefed on the plan said.
“The resolution plans submitted by the three entities in the earlier round had some gaps. These plans are not valid anymore. So, we have called for fresh resolution proposals,” said a person involved in the process.
Separate auction process
Despite the disappointment over the outcome of a separate auction process initiated with its backing by the resolution professional for the sale of two subsidiaries of Sical Logistics, it was decided by the lenders panel to keep the auction process alive.
“We will evaluate everything later,” the person mentioned earlier said, adding that the lenders were “looking for value maximisation”.
The highest bid quoted in the separate auction for the sale of entire equity interest of 53.6 per cent held by Sical Logistics in Sical Infra Assets Ltd and 97.5 per cent in Patchems Pvt Ltd, is understood to be about ₹55 crore.
This was much lower then the ₹200 crore expected from the sale of the subsidiaries.
Sical Infra Assets Ltd is the holding company for Sical Multimodal and Rail Transport Ltd (SMART) that has a Category-1 licence from the Ministry of Railways to run container trains throughout the Indian Railways network in both export-import and domestic trade.
SMART operates seven rakes and is also constructing two rail linked terminals at Bangalore and Chennai.
Patchems is an integrated third-party logistics services firm focussed on pharmaceutical, medical devices, lifesaving products and consumer healthcare industries.
In March, NCLT ordered starting of resolution process under the bankruptcy law against Sical Logistics.
Mumbai-listed Sical Logistics owes ₹1,599.50 crore to a clutch of banks and financial institutions such as Bank of Baroda, YES Bank Ltd, RBL Bank Ltd and IDFC Bank Ltd, among others. Of this, the resolution professional has admitted ₹1,574.06 crore.
The Coffee Day Group acquired Sical Logistics from Chennai-based MA Chidambaram Group in September 2011 through its subsidiary Tanglin Retail Realty Developments Pvt Ltd.
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