Acre puts Nagarjuna Fertilizers up for sale at double buy price

Distressed debt aggregator Acre Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) has put Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals on the block less than a year after taking over the ₹3,858 crore debt of the company.

Acre is seeking ₹1,600 crore from bidders - double the ₹811 crore it paid to a seven-bank consortium in March last year, documents accessed by ET showed. The bidding will begin later this week.

In a sale notice, Acre ARC said that it plans to sell Nagarjuna as a composite asset including the Kakinada urea plant and three other units. That will include movable fixed assets, plant and machinery and other accessories of the company.


"It is interesting that the ARC is seeking double the amount after paying cash to lenders less than a year ago. There have been different companies interested in this plant in the last few years but nothing has materialised because prospective buyers and the promoters could not agree on valuations and the company also had its own issues, now this is an attempt by a new creditor," said a person aware of the company.

It is unclear if Acre has received any interest in the sale. The ARC declined to comment.

"This is a rare plant near the sea with a gas connection from the KG-D6 basin. However, the company has been facing issues with gas supply and also long pending litigation on the amount it can recover from the government on reimbursements linked to electricity tariffs. These issues have prevented a deal before. It remains to be seen whether Acre is successful," said a second person aware of the issues.

In August last year after Acre had taken over the company's debt Nagarjuna had sought shareholders' approval to sell its urea manufacturing plant and micro irrigation business to AM Green Ammonia (India) a part of the Greenko Group for ₹1,700 crore to settle Acre's dues however, that deal did not go through.

"The deal would have attracted a stamp duty of 10% and will also require a lot of work on the transfer of licence. The company is also demanding a recovery from the central government on higher energy costs in line with what has been agreed for other plants. Then there are other issues linked to the bust-up of the GAIL pipeline in 2014 which hampered the deal," said the second person aware of the issues.

Nagarjuna's 1.59 million tonne plant in Kakinada had faced issues due to a gas pipeline burst in 2014-15. Fertiliser is a heavily regulated sector with significant dependence on government subsidies. Delays in government payments have also impacted the business.

There are also issues with regard to the land usage norms around the plant with some earmarked as environmentally sensitive. It remains to be seen whether Greenko rekindles its interest in Nagarjuna or the Murugappa Group's Coromandel International which also has a plant in Kakinada renews its interest from way back in 2017.