Authum emerges as top bidder for Reliance Commercial Finance

Authum Investment and Infrastructure has emerged as the top bidder to take over Reliance Commercial Finance (RCF), a company of debt-ridden Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Group, with about Rs 1,600 crore offer.

This is the second Reliance Group company for which Authum has emerged as a winner. Last month, a consortium of lender led by Bank of Baroda had cleared a proposal of Authum to acquire Reliance Home Finance (RHF) as part of the resolution process.

Authum is a domestic NBFC with around 15 years of presence and over Rs 2,400 crore networth as on June 2021.

According to sources, Authum's resolution plan has been selected as the successful one, after several rounds of bidding and negotiation by the lenders and the lead bank Bank of Baroda with several bidders.

The voting for the successful bidder and the resolution plan for RCF started on June 7 and concluded on July 15, 2021.

Authum's plan with the highest Net Present Value of Rs 1,585 crore has received over 80 per cent of the voting and the plan had crossed the fair value as assessed by 2 independent valuers, sources said.

Lenders' recovery is high as Rs 1,240 crore of cash has already been distributed and the company has additional cash and cash equivalent of over Rs 250 crore as on June 30, 2021, which will be distributed along with plan proceeds.

RCF's resolution will result in overall debt reduction of Reliance Capital by over Rs 9,000 crore in a significant positive to the overall debt reduction plans of the company.