Hyderabad: The National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT) Hyderabad bench has approved state-run hydropower major NHPC's bid for debt-ridden Lanco Teesta Hydro Power Ltd (LTHPL) for an amount of Rs 897.50 crore under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process.
This is the first time that a state-run company has bagged a project under IBC. The original bid of Rs 907 crore was initially approved by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Lanco Teesta Hydro Power with 100 percent vote and the present bid amount of Rs 897.50 crore, which took into consideration the theft that occurred at the site, was approved by 97.34 percent votes. As per the approved resolution plan, NHPC would pay Rs 877.74 crore to financial creditors and Rs 11.12 crore would go to operational creditors of Lanco Teesta Hydro Power. NHPC will fund the project through a debt-equity ratio of 70:30.
The project will be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 5,748.04 crores (at July 2018 price level), which includes a bid amount of Rs 907 crore for the acquisition and an estimated cost of balance work of Rs 3,863.95 crores, which includes interest during construction (IDC) and foreign component (FC) of Rs 977.09 crore. Earlier in March 2019, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the proposal for NHPC to take over Lanco's 500 MW Teesta Hydroelectric Power Project in Sikkim.
Besides NHPC, another PSU, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL), had also bid for the debt-ridden company. The NCLT had started insolvency proceedings against Lanco Teesta Hydro Power Ltd, after admitting a plea by its lead lender ICICI Bank on March 16, 2018 and a resolution professional was appointed on April 24, 2018.
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