US hedge fund Silver Point Capital to buy AJR Infra’s Patna highway projects

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Mumbai: US hedge fund Silver Point Capital is all set to purchase AJR Infra and Tolling’s special purpose vehicle (SPV), Patna Highway Projects (PHP) for ₹930 crore soon.

Officials familiar with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) said that the tribunal has already okayed the Silver Point Capital resolution proposal to take over abandoned projects under the PHP.

AJR Infra, earlier known as Gammon Infrastructure Project, was executing the PHP as key partner of the SPVs, which was accepted by the NCLT for debt resolution.

Officials said that Silver Point’s offer would lead to recovery of around 71% of debt to the lenders for the road project.

Last year, a majority of creditors had agreed to the Silver Point’s resolution plan for the SPV. However, the resolution plan got delayed for want of approval from the ARJ Infra. The promoters – AJR Infra – consent is required under section 12A of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.

As per Section 12 of the IBC, subject to sub-section (2), the corporate insolvency resolution process shall be completed within a period of 180 days from the date of admission of the application to initiate such process, which can be extended by a further period of 180 days.

A PHP official said that Phoenix ARC had around 80% of the projects’ debt. PHP was incorporated to implement a project to build a 63.17 km, four-lane dual carriageway on NH77, including a new bypass of 16.8km connecting NH-28 in Bihar on an annuity basis.

The SPV received a provisional completion certificate in September 2016. Since then, it has been receiving ₹94 crore semi-annually. The concession period is to end in 2025.