Tri-County's ₹67 cr resolution plan for BSR gets NCLT nod

MUMBAI: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the resolution plan submitted by the US-based Tri-County Premier Hearing Services Inc. to acquire debt-ridden Bhilai Scan and Research Pvt. Ltd (BSR) Diagnostics Ltd.

On 22 January, a Mumbai bench of NCLT presided over by justices V.P. Singh and Ravikumar Duraiswami approved the American company’s ₹67-crore resolution plan for the Chhattisgarh-based diagnostics chain.

“The resolution plan provides that within 30 business days of the effective date, the company shall appoint a monitoring agency constituting of two representatives of the secured financial creditors, one of resolution applicant (successful bidder) and one of resolution professional (RP) to monitor and supervise the implementation of the resolution plan," the order said.

The monitoring agency must have representatives each from Axis Bank, State Bank of India and the RP.

BSR Diagnostics owes around ₹170 crore to financial and operational creditors.

The committee of creditors (CoC), which includes State Bank of India and Axis Bank, had approved the resolution plan with 99% voting in favour. The lenders agreed to a 58% haircut while approving the plan on 5 November.

The resolution professional for BSR—Sundaresh Bhat of BDO—confirmed the development.

“BSR will be Tri-County Premier Hearing Services’ first acquisition in India and will allow it to enter into radiology diagnostics as well," Bhat said.

BSR operates about 19 diagnostic centres in central and eastern India, in cities such as Bhilai, Raipur, Nagpur, Jagdalpur and Cuttack.

Florida-based Tri-County’s plan involves paying around ₹67 crore to lenders and infusing fresh equity into the company. The debt-laden company also owns two hospitals: Apollo BSR Hospitals and BSR Cancer Hospital in Bhilai.

The RP received expressions of interest (EoI) from six entities, of which three filed their resolution plans. However, the CoC approved only one resolution plan of Tri-County Premier Hearing Services Inc.

Hyderabad-based advisory firm Medium Healthcare Consulting Pvt. Ltd will carry out the business of the BSR Diagnostics, under an agreement between Tri-County and Medium.

Tri-County has also formed a strategic tie-up with Odisha-based diagnostic chain Geeta Diagnostics Centre, which has agreed to infuse an additional ₹9 crore in lieu of 20% equity stake in BSR’s Odisha operations.

According to the court order, law firm Link Legal India Law Services is advising the RP in the case, while company’s promoters Rohit Khanduja and M.K. Khanduja are being represented by Ashish Pyasi, an advocate with Dhir & Dhir Associates.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.