Global private equity major KKR, Apollo Global, Blackstone, Brookfield and JC Flowers are among the 14 entities that have expressed interest to acquire debt-ridden Reliance Capital Ltd, promoted by the Anil Ambani Group, said a report by Press Trust of India (PTI).
Other financial investors which have submitted Expressions of Interest (EoIs) include ArpWood, Varde Partners, Multiples Fund and Oaktree Capital.
Among strategic players Adani Finserve, Piramal Finance, Poonawala Finance, Nippon Life and Hero Fincorp are the other major companies to have shown interest to buy debt-laden Reliance Capital by 11 March, PTI said quoting sources.
The last date for submission of bids for the debt-ridden firm was extended to March 25 on the request of some prospective bidders from the previous fixed date of March 11 by the central bank-appointed administrator, the report added.
Former Bank of Maharashtra Executive Director Nageswar Rao Y has been the appointed administrator.
In November last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the board of Reliance Capital in view of payment defaults and serious governance issues. Later it dragged the Anil Ambani-group firm to a Mumbai bankruptcy court initiating a resolution process.
This is the third large non-banking financial company (NBFC) against which the central bank has initiated bankruptcy proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
The first being Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) (November 2019), which was recently taken over by the Piramal Group beating US investor Oaktree Capital. In October, two Srei Group firms were also taken up for insolvency process.
This is also the third Anil Ambani-group firm to be under the bankruptcy process, following Reliance Communications (RCom) and Reliance Naval and Engineering (Reliance Naval).
US-based alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management Inc and SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd are among the bidders to enter the race to acquire different assets of debt-laden Reliance Capital alongside 60 other players to buy different assets of the firm.
According to the PTI sources, the vast majority of the bidders, who have submitted EOIs, have bid for the entire company, currently facing bankruptcy with the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
The bidders have two options - either they can bid for the entire Reliance Capital or any one or more than one of the eight subsidiaries of the NBFC.
Its subsidiaries include Reliance General Insurance, Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, Reliance Securities, Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company, Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance.
Earlier in February this year, the RBI appointed administrator had invited expressions of interest (EoIs) for sale of Reliance Capital.
In September, Reliance Capital in its annual general meeting (AGM) had informed shareholders that the company's consolidated debt was Rs 40,000 crore. It had reported narrowing of its consolidated net loss to Rs 1,759 crore in the quarter ended December 2021 as against net loss of Rs 3,966 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
