ICICI Bank Ltd moved the National Company Law Tribunal with an insolvency petition against the debt-ridden infrastructure services firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd.
The private lender has filed a corporate insolvency petition against the company under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, according to a stock exchange filing by the infrastructure firm. The petition was filed at the Allahabad bench of the tribunal.
Lenders to the Manoj Gaur-led firm have been forced to invoke insolvency proceedings after the Reserve Bank of India rejected a request for restructuring the company’s debt outside the bankruptcy court. Jaiprakash Associates was part of the RBI’s second list of stressed assets, sent in August 2017, that needed immediate insolvency action. The Supreme Court had stayed insolvency proceedings as the tribunal was already dealing with one of the firm’s subsidiaries, Jaypee Infratech Ltd. Earlier this month, the apex court allowed the central bank to continue with the insolvency process.
The firm said it has been given seven days to reply to the petition. The matter has been listed at the tribunal for hearing on 17 September.
The infrastructure firm owed Rs 31,522 crore to its lenders as on 31 March 2017, according to its annual report. In June 2017, it had sold its cement units to UltraTech Cement Ltd, which is likely to have reduced debt by at least Rs 10,000 crore.
Jaiprakash Associates closed 3.7 percent lower, ahead of the petition filing, on the BSE on Monday.
(This article was originally published on BloombergQuint.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)