Patanjali in final stage of acquisition of Ruchi Soya, CoC to discuss proposal on Tuesday

New Delhi: The Committee of Creditors(CoC) of Ruchi Soya is meeting on Tuesday to discuss the final proposal of Patanjali Ayurved’s acquisition of the debt-laden company.

“The deal is likely to be announced this month,” the Economic Times quoted one of the officials as saying. The ET report citing Patanjali spokesperson SK Tijarawala said the CoC meeting will happen on Tuesday.

Worth mentioning here is the Baba Ramdev-led company revised its offer to acquire Ruchi Soya last month to Rs 4,350 crore, Rs 200 crore more than its previous offer and higher than Adani Wilmar’s bid of Rs 4,100 crore.

Out of the Rs 4,350 crore, Rs 115 crore will go to Ruchi Soya as equity while the remaining, Rs 4,235 crore will be distributed among creditors. SBI and IDBI Bank have the highest exposure to Ruchi Soya. Adani Wilmar earlier withdrew from the process citing delay in completion of the insolvency process, the business daily mentioned.

“Patanjali will submit details of the distribution of Rs 4,235 crore to financial creditors in a couple of days,” the ET report cited an official close to the development as saying. “The committee of creditors will meet in the third week of April again to discuss the disbursal of funds,” he added.

Edible oil company Ruchi Soya, having an overall debt of close to Rs 12,000 crore, was referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in 2017 end following petitions from creditors like Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank.

If Patanjali Ayurved manages to acquire Ruchi Soya, then it will be the company’s biggest acquisition so far. The potential acquisition of Ruchi Soya will help the ayurveda bellwether gain captive brand share, the largest oil seed extraction capacity in the country, and 24 plants of crushing, milling, refining and packaging edible oils. Ruchi Soya is also one of the country’s largest exporters of value-added soy products.