Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. advised Mr. Sumit Binani, the resolution professional in the corporate insolvency resolution process (“CIRP”) of KSK Mahanadi Power Company Limited (“KMPCL”/ “Company”), and thereafter in his role as the monitoring agent during the implementation of the resolution plan submitted by JSW Energy Limited (“JSW”), which was approved by members of the committee of creditors of KMPCL (“CoC”) holding 100% voting share.
KMPCL had total claims of approximately INR 39,409 crores (out of which, INR 34,923 crores was admitted). Resolution plans in respect of the Company were received from 10 resolution applicants. A challenge process mechanism was undertaken to improve manifold the expected recovery to creditors under the resolution plans, potentially yielding recovery of even portions of interest charged by lenders during CIRP period.
The CIRP of KMPCL was riddled with several complexities and peculiarities, including but not limited to issues pertaining to interim distribution of cash lying with the Company, issues relating to consolidation of CIRP with the CIRP of related entities, stay imposed on the CIRP multiple times, voluminous litigations by prospective resolution applicants/ state discoms and other authorities etc. Despite such complexities, it became one of the first such CIRPs where the National Company Law Tribunal allowed interim distribution of surplus cash to the creditors in line with the distribution waterfall under Section 53 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code, 2016 (“IBC”). The successful implementation of JSW’s resolution plan led to a historic recovery of more than 100% of the admitted debt of the financial creditors of the Company. The implementation of JSW’s resolution plan was successfully carried out within a record span of 48 hours from the receipt of necessary approvals.
This is the largest acquisition of a thermal power asset under the IBC process in India. With this transaction, JSW Energy Limited added 1800 MW of operational capacity and another brownfield expansion of balance 1800 MW, surpassing significant milestone of 10 GW operational capacity. This marked a strategic acquisition for JSW Energy Limited, as KMPCL supplies power to three major states in India – Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.
The SAM & Co. team was led by Anoop Rawat, Partner; Vishrut Kansal, Principal Associate; and Snigdha Saraff, Associate.
The team assisting in litigation aspects of the deal comprised of Vaijayant Paliwal, Partner; Allwin Godwin, Principal Associate; Vishrut Kansal, Principal Associate; Charu Bansal, Principal Associate; Aditya Marwah, Senior Associate; Niranjana Pandian, Associate; Snigdha Saraff, Associate and Kirti Gupta, Associate.
Further, considering a total of ten resolution plans were received in respect of the Company, the team involved in review of compliance of the resolution plans comprised of Vishrut Kansal, Principal Associate; Shreyas Gupta, Principal Associate; Aditya Marwah, Senior Associate; Amrit Mahal, Senior Associate; Pratik Datta, Associate Director Research; Ahkam Khan, Associate; Samidha Mathur, Associate; Devansh Rathi, Associate; Rashi Sharma, Associate; Anushri Joshi, Associate; Snigdha Saraff, Associate; Diksha Sharma, Associate and Anant Agarwal, Associate.
Further, team comprising of Rohan Jain, Partner; Kshitij Arora, Principal Associate and Shrutika Lakhotia, advised on the corporate aspects during implementation of the resolution plan.
The CoC of KMPCL was advised by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.JSW was the successful resolution applicant and was advised by AZB & Partners.
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