Bankers hope to resolve these 4 power plants by December as SC resumes hearing on stressed assets

Bankers are hoping to resolve at least four troubled power plants by end-December, even as as the Supreme Court resumes the hearing on stressed power assets on Wednesday. Among those units for which bankers are expecting to find buyers is the GMR Chhattisgarh Energy. According to persons in the know, Adani Power is a frontrunner for this unit, having reportedly offered to take over Rs 3,800 crore of sustainable debt but the Gujarat government-owned genco is also understood to have thrown its hat in the ring. Bankers said they were working to restructure the debt of GMR Rajamundry Energy, a gas-based power plant. They said the existing management would continue. Among the other units for which bankers are seeking buyers include Coastal Energen’s 1,200 MW Mutiara plant, KSK Energy’s 3,600 MW Akaltara plant, Avantha Group’s 600 MW Jhabua unit and Meenakshi Energy’s 1,000 MW Nellore Andhra plant. Meanwhile, bankers had offered Jaypee Power Ventures (Nigrie) to state-owned NTPC, but the deal did not fructify. Bankers continue to look for a buyer Jaypee Power Ventures (Bina). Lenders are keen to find buyers for these stressed power firms since they believe it is a better option than selling the loans to asset reconstruction companies (ARC). Moreover, if these are taken to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the process will take time. Also, the haircuts could be steep, they feel. The Supreme Court on September 11 had asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks and others to desist from invoking insolvency proceedings against corporate defaulters as per the banking regulator’s February 12 mandate. Around 34 stressed power assets are named in a Parliamentary Standing Committee report and 11 plants, with a capacity of around 12-15GW, and a total debt of around 80,000-90,000 crore are being resolved under SAMADHAN (Scheme of Asset Management and Debt Change Structure). Under SAMADHAN, banks are required to assess the sustainable debt of the units.