SEBI may outsource auction of 87 Sahara properties

As part of the long effort to recover money from the Sahara Group, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is planning to outsource the Sahara property auction job, which could be worth nearly Rs 40,000 crore. The market regulator is in talks with SBI CAP Trustee Co and UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services for potential sale of 87 properties owned by Sahara.

The Supreme Court had earlier granted SEBI, the permission to sell assets of Sahara Chief Subroto Roy to generate money required to bail out the latter from jail.

“The claims made by Sahara on the properties and the respective title deeds can be verified only when some third party is appointed for verification,” a SEBI source told reporters. A property advisor explained that outsourced agencies will require examining the documents of all the 87 properties and the status of the said lands. This could take several months.

This mammoth exercise involves 87 properties in 71 cities, covering 7,161 acres, of which only 47 title deeds seem clear as per submissions made by Sahara to the SC in 2013.

The 71 locations of Sahara properties include Pomgaon and Kumheri villages near its Aamby Valley project in Pune district while the other chunks are in Faridabad, Noida, Muzzafarnagar and Haridwar. These assets together account for nearly Rs 12,000 crore.

The hearing on SEBI’s application for appointing a receiver to auction Sahara’s properties is scheduled for April 27.

Sahara Group have 90 days time to raise Rs 1,200 crore

On Monday, the Supreme Court gave a time period of 90 days to Sahara group to finalize the deal of its three hotels which includes abroad and domestic properties to raise the Rs 5,000 crore cash component of the bail condition for release of its owner Subrata Roy and its other two group directors. As per the statement of a bench of Justices A K Sikri and T S Thakur, we have given you the last and final opportunity and this time if you will fail so we will appoint the receiver for auction of your assets.

Why money is essential for Sahara Group:

Last year on March 4, Roy was sent to jail for the violation of the order of apex court on dated August 31, 2012, directing two group companies to return Rs 24,000 crore to investors. Sahara has deposited Rs 5,120 crore by claiming that it had a liability of just a little more than Rs 2,000 crore. However, it is well know thing that on March 26, 2014, the court was granted an interim bail to Roy and its two directors by stating that they would be released only after the deposit of Rs 5,000 crore in cash and furnished bank guarantee for another Rs 5,000 crore. Till now the group has deposited approx. Rs 3,800 crore and is short by Rs 1,200 crore. Appearing for Sahara, its senior advocate Kapil Sibal told the bench that one of the Hong Kong-based financial reconstruction companies is facilitating a 900 million euro deal with Dubai based firm known as Trinity that would take over Bank of China’s (BoC) charge on the three hotels, Dream Downtown and the Plaza in New York and Grosvenor House in London.

The more he added that the buyers Spanish Bank BBVA has confirmed the buyer’s financial capability that had certified that the buyer had more than 900 million euros in its account and it represents that they had earned and through non-criminal activities.He said the buyer’s financial capability was confirmed by Spanish Bank BBVA, which had certified that the buyer had more than 900 million euros in its account which was legitimately earned and through non-criminal activity. Sibal said that after paying off BoC, Sahara would get Rs 650 crore, which would be deposited towards meeting the bail bond conditions.

An effort to raise Money:

However, when SC asked that how Sahara group will arrange the remain money for bail, so Sibal replied that Sahara Group was planning to sell more than 10 properties including residential and commercial properties and in addition to nine already identified for the purpose. Out of nine, the group has already sold five and it will provide another Rs 700 crore, the Sibal added. The bench of SC said it was prima facie satisfied with the group’s extended conference room facility and proposal in Tihar jail for Sahara Chief and two directors to negotiate and finalize the deals. On the competent of bank guarantee, Sibal added that the group plans to pledge 800 acres of its Aamby Valley project, so that an Argentine bank can get a bank guarantee through HSBC and Panama is one of the names of Aamby Ventures, Mauritius.

According to bank, Aamby Ventures is nominating the Rs 5,000 crore bank guarantee in of SEBI-Sahara account, but court said that as you are struggling to raise Rs. 1,200 crore for your release, so a very next day after your release from jail we can ask for the rest Rs 30,000 crore as you were directed to pay. So do you have any plan to arrange that money or how you are going to arrange that money in future? In reply Sibal added that “we don’t agree that we have the liability to pay Rs 30,000 crore as we are not arguing that today, just allow us space to cross the first hurdle in the fight, on that issue we will argue on another day. After knowing a soft corner Justice Thakur has for poetry Sibal stated that “Roj ki yeh jang hai, kaheen kati patang hai! Mauka mila fir bhi, laga raasta to tang hai” to highlight the difficult period the Sahara group through which Sahara group is going through in these days to carry on negotiation process to sale the property.

In the reply of the “shayari” of Justice Thakur, on Monday Justice Sikri return the favor by saying that, “Dard ki yoon aadat ho gayi hai! Jis din dard na mile to bhi dard sa hota hai” to drive home that such financial difficulties have become a way of life for the Sahara group.

Sahara chief Subrata Roy

It is reported that Sahara group has sold a plot near Delhi-Gurgaon border, which is worth of Rs 1,211crore and M3M India has brought it, which is Gurgaon based real-estate developer. It is considered as the one more step to raise the funds for bailing out Subrata Roy, a chairman of Sahara India, as Supreme Court allowed Sahara India to sell four properties located in Pune, Chauma, Jodhpur and Vasai. In the response of an e-mail Sahara India said, “We have presented all the relevant records in front of the honorable Supreme Court. Since it is the matter of sub-judice, we cannot comment any further on your query”.

M3M announced the sale on Thursday, but Pankaj Bansal, Director at M3M India, stated that it was not a distress sale by Sahara India. According to Pankaj Bansal, “M3M plans to build a mixed-use project on the land to build the internationally-branded residences and serviced apartments with retail and entertainment zones.

Sahara India, has been trying to sell the 185 acres, nearby IGI Airport (Indira Gandhi International Airport), from last one year. As per close officials, it had initially put a price of Rs 1,700 crore for the plot, but the deal with M3M has been closed at Rs 6.5 crore an acre. Brokers and market experts stated that, ongoing rate for an acre of land in this area is between Rs 9 crore and Rs 10 crore. In this project M3M will be able to construct on approximately 12 million sq ft. About deal M3M informed that court was about to sale, which then gave permission to close the deal, while explaining about payment arrangements, Pankaj Bansal, Director at M3M India said, “Our company has six post-dated cheques and Sahara India will get the entire money in form of installments in next six months.