Coffee Day Enterprises promoted Sical Logistics received four firm bids under insolvency proceedings

Lenders of Sical Logistics Ltd, a subsidiary of listed Coffee Day Enterprises, received four firm bids of which Ambey Mining and Pristine Malva Logistics have separately made the highest offer, said people aware of the matter.
The other two bidders are Agrigo Trading Pvt Ltd and Winwind Power Energy Pvt Ltd, the people said.

Lenders are hoping to recover at least one-fourth of their dues from the company which began facing a liquidity crunch after the sudden demise of promoter VG Siddhartha in July 2019.

Sical Logistics received 26 expressions of interest although only four entities submitted firm resolution plans.

Financial creditors have admitted claims of Rs 1,561 crore. The company’s resolution professional, SV Ramkumar, did not respond to a request for comment.

After the demise of the promoter, the company faced a liquidity crunch due to its inability to execute projects it had won. As a result, these projects were put on hold.

“Bankers continued to withhold collections from operations towards debt servicing obligations, including certain obligations falling due in the future,” the company had said in a statement in November 2019.

Sical Logistics got admitted for the corporate insolvency process in March 2021 after talks of a debt-recast scheme between the company and lenders collapsed. In fact, till March 2019, Coffee Day Enterprise infused Rs 281 crore as unsecured loans to the subsidiary for meeting various funding requirements of the businesses, according to a credit rating report.

Pristine Malva, a group company of Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects, is a rail logistics business. The parent company is backed by Global Infrastructure Partners India, which has inland container depot and private freight terminal operations across India. Ambey Mining has been engaged in coal excavation and transportation for three decades.

Sical Logistics is in the business of mining, multi-modal logistics for bulk and containerised cargo port terminals, port handling, trucking and warehousing, ship agency, customhouse agency, offshore supply logistics and retail logistics. On a consolidated basis, it has investments in port terminals, container freight stations, container rail and a dredger.

Tanglin Retail Realty Developments Pvt Ltd, a part of the Coffee Day Group, acquired a 55% equity stake in Sical Logistics from Chennai-based MA Chidambaram Group in 2011.