Future Retail's creditors extend voting timeline on SpaceMantra's bid to Sept 30
committee of creditors (CoC) to Future Retail (FRL) have extended the voting period for the third time to decide the winning bidder to acquire the debt-laden company. The timeline has now been extended till September 30 as lenders are still undecided whether to approve a very low offer from SpaceMantra or allow liquidation of FRL as there isn't enough time to seek fresh bids.
The decision was taken on Saturday after the second timeline ended on September 15, three people familiar with the developments said.
The majority of the creditors have yet to decide on the takeover plan under consideration.
«Nobody is in a hurry to make a decision. Everyone is waiting for the other.
Though some small bondholders have voted, the large financial creditors are still weighing options,» said one of the persons cited above.
Kishore Biyani's flagship retail venture owes 38 creditors close to ₹20,000 crore. Bondholders, represented by Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM), own 21% of the debt, or ₹4,109 crore, followed by Bank of Baroda at ₹1,826 crore or 9.24%, Union Bank of India at 9%, or ₹1,779 crore, and Central Bank of India at 8.38%, or ₹1,656 crore.
SpaceMantra, a retailer of construction, building materials and office furniture, is the sole bidder to take over FRL.
Its offer of ₹553 crore comes to about 2.79% recovery for creditors.
Lenders are uncomfortable with the low offer, which is close to the liquidation value of the company. They are also sceptical of the valuations ascribed to the company since many of Future Retail's stores are currently inaccessible or have been taken over.
«Multiple lenders have raised questions on the process, specifically the valuations ascribed to the company, the assets position and the audit report but
