Darius Khambata, the counsel for Torrent Investments, earlier said in the hearing that the minutes of committee of creditors (CoC) show that the challenge mechanism was concluded in a fair and transparent manner, with Torrent emerging as the highest bidder. So the new round of auction is not legally valid, he argued. But Kapil Sibal, senior counsel for the CoC, said that the lenders have the right to decide whether or not to go ahead with the offer.
The highest bidder in the auction will acquire 100% stake in Reliance General Insurance, and get 51% stake in Reliance Nippon Life Insurance among other assets. Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance are also its subsidiaries.
RCap is the third Anil Ambani group company that filed for bankruptcy after Reliance Communications, Reliance Naval and Engineering. Ambani had to step down from the board of group companies in March 2022 after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) restrained him from associating with any listed company. It barred him and Reliance Home Finance from the securities market in February for allegedly siphoning off funds from the company. Ambani had to disassociate from two listed companies— Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power— which are also financially stressed.