NCLT approves Liberty House bid for Amtek Auto, 4/12 from RBI list resolved

The Chandigarh Bench of the NCLT today approved the resolution plan submitted for Amtek Auto by Liberty House. Amtek Auto was a part of the RBI list of 12 cases which were referred for insolvency proceedings..This makes Amtek Auto the fourth from the RBI list to have receive NCLT nod for resolution, after Electrosteel Steels, Bhushan Steel, and Monnet Ispat..The Bench disposed of three applications today, two dealing with the eligibility of Liberty House under Section 29A and one for approval of resolution plan..By the final date for submission of resolution plans, only two bidders had qualified, one being Liberty House and the other being Deccan Value Investors. Deccan had, however, backed out leaving Liberty as the sole resolution applicant..After several negotiations and revisions, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) consisting of 95 financial creditors approved the Liberty’s resolution plan with 93.89% majority. After the application was filed, news reports suggesting Liberty’s ineligibility for another RBI12 case, ABG Shipyard, caught the attention of the resolution professional as well as Deccan..Accordingly, resolution professional sought the intervention of NCLT in determining Liberty’s eligibility and Deccan Investments sought to invalidate Liberty’s bid hoping to come back as the sole resolution applicant..The ineligibility of Liberty stemmed from unpaid dues (by certain subsidiaries of Liberty House) to EXIM Bank. However, these dues were for interest payments and not principal amounts. Further, these amounts were paid once the resolution plan was selected. The NCLT, thus held that Deccan’s contention that Liberty House has misled the RP and CoC was not valid..The NCLT thus held that “non-disclosures of the associate companies by the Resolution Applicant in this case, has not been found to be fatal to the validity of the resolution plan and its implementation” and approved the resolution plan submitted by Liberty..Liberty House recently received NCLT’s approval for Adhunik Metaliks as well. It’s bid for ABG Shipyard is currently pending before the Ahmedabad and it continues to try to win Bhushan Power and Steel as well..Senior Advocate Anand Chhibbar along with Gaurav Mankotia appeared for Liberty House. Khaitan & Co advised Liberty House on this transaction and the was led by Partner, Ashwin Bishnoi..Advocate Gyanendra Kumar appeared for Deccan..(Image taken from here).(Read order)