Kotak and Karvy bid to acquire Ricoh India

Originally published at ET Markets.

Kotak Investment Advisors and Karvy Data Management Services have bid to acquire distressed Ricoh India, a subsidiary of the Japanese multinational technology company with almost Rs 3,000 crore in unpaid dues, said two people familiar with the matter.

The bids were submitted to the committee of creditors led by Deutsche Bank, which will choose the new owner of the company.

Lenders, excluding related parties Ricoh Japan and Ricoh Asia Pacific, may have to take a 5-10% loss on their loans, the people said. Ricoh India owed the two related parties over Rs 1,500 crore.

Emails sent to the bidders and Deutsche Bank remained unanswered until publication of this report.

“Both the bids are almost similar, where the parties propose repaying financial creditors barring related parties,” one person told ET. There could be some conversion of debt into equity, the person said.

Ricoh India is said to be helping India Post in digitisation. The case was admitted for insolvency proceedings last year after the company filed a petition upon being unable to repay its debt.

Krishna Chamadia was appointed the resolution professional, who is responsible for the distressed company’s daily operations during the insolvency proceedings. Besides Deutsche Bank, the lenders includedBank of India and Citibank.

In July 2016, hinting a possible fraud, Ricoh India admitted its accounts appeared to be have been “falsified” and that it estimated to have incurred a loss of Rs 1,123 crore for the year ended March 2016.

Minority shareholders of Ricoh India claimed compensation from the insolvent company and its Japanese parent for losses caused by a drastic fall in its share price following the fraud allegations.