Almas Global reportedly failed to pay a company’s creditors under an approved resolution plan
Almas Global reportedly failed to pay a company’s creditors under an approved resolution plan
The government has put on hold the sale of Pawan Hans as it is legally probing the NCLT order against Almas Global, the largest shareholder in the winning consortium, an official said on Monday.
Last month, the government announced Star9 Mobility Pvt. Ltd., a consortium of Big Charter Pvt Ltd, Maharaja Aviation Pvt Ltd and Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC, as the winning bidder for Pawan Hans.
While Big Charter and Maharaja Aviation hold 26% and 25% stake respectively in Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd. Ltd. holds 49% stake in Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC.
The official said the award letter has not been issued to the winning association as legal opinion is being sought.
“We will conduct a legal inquiry into the NCLT order before proceeding further,” the official said. Letter of award has not been issued. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) passed an order last month after Almas Global failed to pay the creditors of a Kolkata-based company under an approved resolution plan.
This is the second strategic disinvestment which has gone into bad weather. Earlier, the sale of Central Electronics Limited (CEL) was also put on hold due to certain allegations against the winning bidder.
The government had in November last year approved the highest price bid of Rs 210 crore by Delhi-based Nandal Finance and Leasing Pvt. Ltd. for sale of 100% equity stake of Government in CEL – a CPSE under Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).
Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad had informed Parliament in February, “The letter of intent (LoI) has not been issued to the successful bidder and specific allegations regarding the bidder are pending investigation.”
Pawan Hans is a 51:49 joint venture between the government and ONGC.
The government had received three bids for the sale of Pawan Hans in December last year.
Star9 Mobility had quoted ₹211.14 crore for Pawan Hans, which was above the reserve price of ₹199.92 crore set by the government based on valuations done by the transaction advisor and asset valuer.
The other two bids were for ₹181.05 crore and ₹153.15 crore.