SC restores Exim Bank of China, others as financial creditors in Reliance Infratel's insolvency process
Supreme Court on Friday restored China Development Bank, Exim Bank of China, Asset Care and Reconstruction Enterprises and others as financial creditors in the insolvency process of Reliance Infratel Ltd, which is now acquired by Reliance Project & Property Management Services, a subsidiary of Reliance Jio Infocomm.
A Bench led by Abhay S Oka struck down a 2022 order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal that declassified these four indirect creditors of Reliance Infratel including China Development Bank, etc as financial creditors of the beleaguered telecom company.
Reliance Infratel’s resolution professional had earlier admitted claims worth Rs 41,055 crore from 35 financial creditors, including Rs 10,952 crore of China Development Bank and other three creditors.
In 2020, the National Company Law Tribunal had approved the resolution plan submitted by Reliance Project & Property Management for Reliance Infratel, a debt-ridden subsidiary of Reliance Communications. Reliance Jio's arm had placed a bid of Rs 3,720 crore to acquire the tower and fibre assets of Reliance Infratel. The tribunal had also allowed the resolution professional to admit financial claims of China Development Bank, Exim Bank of China and other two creditors.
However, Doha Bank challenged the tribunal's order in the appellate tribunal, saying that the four creditors were «indirect creditors» since they had not provided any loan to Reliance Infratel but had filed claims on the basis of Reliance Infratel hypothecating its assets in
