Era infra lenders get more time to assess fresh bids

NEW DELHI: Lenders of Era Infra Engineering have got a 215 day breather from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) after the court agreed to exclude those many days from the stipulated duration of the insolvency process in response to an appeal, which sources termed a ‘last ditch effort’ to prevent the company from going into liquidation.

The lenders who received a lone bid from a consortium comprising Sun Pharma director Sudhir Valia’s Suraksha Realty did not even vote on the offer as no upfront payments were promised to them.

The creditors approached the NCLT on the grounds that the insolvency process faced stumbling blocks on account of probes by income tax authorities which made it difficult for prospective bidders to examine the company’s books of accounts, which were in custody of the authorities.


The construction contractor was amongst the first dozen accounts selected by the Reserve Bank of India for initiation of insolvency proceedings. A consortium of lenders led by Union Bank of India are owed Rs 12,000 crore by the company.

Several options are now being examined including clubbing the insolvency process of some of the company’s subsidiaries with the parent in order to create a more valuable proposition for prospective buyers, according to sources.