ONGC-Indian Oil consortium, GAIL, and MCPI place bids to take over JBF Petro

1 Sep 2022 , 11:12 AM

ONGC–Indian Oil Consortium, GAIL India, and Kolkata-based MCPI have presented formal bids to take over JBP Petrochemicals, a Mangalore-based bankrupt company.

Three others who had submitted expressions of interest – Reliance Industries, a consortium of HPCL-Mittal Energy, and BC Jindal Group’s Jindal Poly Films backed off from placing formal bids for the chemicals company, stated sources.

GAIL is India’s major gas trading, transmission, and petrochemicals corporation, accounting for 70% of the country’s gas transmission industry.

MCPI is a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) manufacturer that is part of The Chatterjee Group (TCG), which purchased MCPI from Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation in 2016.

Bankers anticipate a sizable recovery from the debt-laden chemicals manufacturer’s outstanding loans, which were admitted to bankruptcy proceedings in February.

Due to unsustainable debt, the business has been struggling for the greater part of a decade. After five years of attempting to find a buyer, lenders eventually decided to go the IBC route.

JBF Petrochemicals owes a total of $463 million (about Rs3,658 crore) in principle, the majority of which is owned by external commercial borrowings and foreign currency term loans.

Its topmost lender is IDBI Bank with $252 million of loans outstanding. Company’s other lenders include Indian Overseas Bank, Exim Bank, Union Bank of India, and Bank of Baroda. Its total outstanding debt is around Rs5,000 crore.

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