Reliance Innoventures, an enterprise owned by Anil Ambani, has been admitted for insolvency proceedings by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) following a claim made by JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Company. JC Flowers, which took over Yes Bank’s bad loan portfolio of ₹48,000 crore, alleged that Reliance Innoventures had defaulted on its debts, specifically defaulting on interest payments amounting to ₹100 crore. In response, Reliance Innoventures contested these assertions and denied any default.
As per the court documents reviewed by ET, JC Flowers inherited the loans extended by Yes Bank to Reliance Innoventures in 2015 and 2017 when it acquired Yes Bank’s bad loan portfolio. The loan portfolio included term loans and non-convertible debentures of Reliance Innoventures valued at ₹1,000 crore.
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Reliance Innoventures argued that it had provided sufficient collateral to cover its outstanding debts and expressed concern over the untimely sale of shares of four Reliance Group companies by the creditor, which led to volatility in their stock prices. The company emphasized that the shares of Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power, Reliance Capital, and Reliance Home Finance, pledged as collateral for the loans, had a value of ₹2,598 crore just a year before the fire sale in 2019. However, these shares were sold for ₹142 crore by Yes Bank prior to JC Flowers acquiring the bank’s bad loan portfolio.
Additionally, Reliance Innoventures raised a point regarding the authorization of JC Flowers to file the petition.
Despite these counterarguments, the NCLT acknowledged the petition filed by JC Flowers, citing the establishment of both financial debt and default by the petitioner. This admission marks a significant development in the insolvency proceedings of Reliance Innoventures.
