Assets undervalued: Jaypee lenders

NEW DELHI: Some lenders to Jaypee Infratech — which is facing insolvency proceedings — have alleged that the assets, including the Taj Expressway and land belonging to the beleaguered entity, have been undervalued and the process to find a buyer for the ailing outfit lacked transparency.
The accusations come just before fresh bids are to be submitted by four players in the fray — the Adani Group, Sajjan Jindal’s JSW, Kotak Realty-Cube Highways and Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company.Sources said at least three lenders — ICICI Bank, India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) and SBI — have raised concerns during the last few meetings.
At least two lenders have sought details of the calculations made by Deloitte and IDBI Capital Markets, which are overseeing the process to select a buyer. When contacted, resolution professional Anuj Jain refused to comment. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) or the bankruptcy court has tasked Jain with finding a buyer for Jaypee Infratech.
A charge made by at least one of the lenders is that toll collections from Taj Expressway that connects Noida and Agra have been massively undervalued. Against a 2017 valuation of around Rs 15,000 crore (discounted net present value of 30-year revenue), the expressway is now estimated to be worth only around Rs 2,500-3,000 crore. This is despite a surge in traffic in recent months. Similarly, the value of land is also allegedly underestimated.
Questions have also been raised over the scoring matrix with allegations of “arbitrary” practices being followed that did not bring out the true picture before the committee of creditors (CoC). The scoring matrix is used to rank the bid on various parameters, financial and technical.
In fact, after a CoC meeting earlier this month, a few lenders had suggested that the scoring pattern had put a bidder in a position of advantage despite others putting up equally credible, if not better, bids. Sources said the dispute over the low value led to fresh offers being sought from the four bidders.