Deccan Chronicle fate hangs on e-votes

​Hyderabad: The insolvency proceedings of the debt-ridden Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited (DCHL) reached key stage with successful bidder likely to be decided on Tuesday. 

According to a person close to the development, voting on the resolution proposals have begun on Monday and the outcome will be known on Tuesday.

“The members of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) are casting their votes electronically. The voting has started on Monday afternoon and will continue till Tuesday afternoon. Thereafter, we will come to know the outcome,” the person quoted above told The Hans India. 

The resolution plan submitted by Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited is mostly likely to get the nod of CoC as the Kolkata-based company offered highest amount of over Rs 800 crore for the trouble-hit company. Zee Media group and a few others are also in the fray while some other companies which initially showed interest backed out.  

The CoC consisting of 18 principal creditors is taking final call on the proposals and the company which gets backing of one third of votes will walk away with the media house that publishes Deccan Chronicle English daily, Andhra Bhoomi Telugu daily and other publications.    

Mamta Binani, Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) for DCHL, is expected to submit resolution plan to Court-I of Hyderabad Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), after receiving approval from the CoC. The Court-I headed by Ratakonda Murali, Member (Judicial), is handling the case.    

“We are racing against time to submit approved resolution plan to the court by Tuesday though we have time till Wednesday,” a source said.

Public sector Canara Bank, one of the major lenders to the media house, knocked on NCLT doors in May 2017, seeking insolvency proceedings against DCHL under IBC as it defaulted on its loan. Earlier, it lodged a complaint with CBI against the DCHL promoters. 

NCLT kicked off insolvency proceedings against the media house under Section 7 of IBC in July 2017 and set 270-day deadline for completion of the process. The deadline was later extended by another 87 days to 357 days.

DCHL carries a total debt of over Rs 7,000 crore on its books. Going by the top bid of over Rs 800 now, bankers will have to forgo 80 per cent of their loan amounts.