Business
Sahara saviours deny fraud, say ready to buy Sahara assets
Washington, Feb 6
Denying "unfounded"
allegations of forgery, the US-based Mirach Capital Group has asserted
that it remains "ready, willing and able" to buy Sahara assets, but its
loan offer was no longer on the table.
The syndicate of five UK
and US investors, which had last month made a $2 billion loan offer to
embattled Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, in turn accused Sahara of
repeatedly acting "to undermine the transaction, and thereby waste the
time of our investors."
Roy, who has been locked up in New
Delhi's Tihar Jail since March on the Supreme Court's orders for
Sahara's failure to refund investors needs to raise about $1.6 billion
to secure his release on bail.
With special permission of the
apex court, Roy has been trying to raise the money by negotiating from
jail the sale of properties.
These include the Plaza Hotel in New
York, the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, Sahara Star in Mumbai and
Aamby Valley resorts in Maharashtra.
Mirach Capital Group, which
was specially formed for the execution of the Sahara deal, had initially
offered a loan against Sahara group's hospitality properties, according
to its Indian-American CEO Saransh Sharma.
But "Mirach has faced
a number of challenges in closing this transaction; nevertheless, we
remain steadfast and are ready, willing, and able to acquire these
assets," he said in an emailed statement Thursday.
"The Amicus
Curiae, Sahara's legal counsel, Mr. Subrata Roy, and other essential
parties including our investors, have been made privy to the details
indicating our willingness and ability to successfully execute this
transaction," Mirach stated.
"In spite of the court mandates to
raise bail, Sahara has always been and continues to be an unwilling
seller of these assets," it said.
"They have thus repeatedly
acted to undermine the transaction, and thereby waste the time of our
investors, SEBI, and the Honourable Supreme Court of India," the group
said.
"The dangerous allegations made by Sahara are indicative of
a direct intent to destabilise a deal structure that, given its high
rate of return, would benefit Mirach and it's investors," it said.
Initially,
Mirach Capital Group said it had reached a deal with Sahara to provide a
structured loan package, including taking over the debt on the foreign
assets from Bank of China, and a sale of the Indian assets.
Consistently,
Mirach has been interested in an outright sale of the assets, however,
Sahara would only agree to exclusivity under the loan structure as
outlined, it said.
"Upon recognizing their inability to make the
first interest payment on the loan, and thus in danger of losing their
assets at a discounted rate through default, members of the Sahara Group
violated the exclusivity agreement and began shopping the assets for a
sale," Mirach alleged.
Mirach Group said it had learned of this after representatives of the Sahara Group approached members of Mirach's syndicate.
"Following
Mirach's multiple notices to Sahara that they were in breach of
contract, Sahara then began to take an adversarial position against
Mirach, and began to attempt to discredit and smear Mirach's
reputation," it said.
"Any such claims of Sahara being defrauded
by Mirach are untrue and are being presented in an effort to unravel the
deal and shelter Subrata Roy," Mirach said.
Proof of Mirach's
financial capabilities were previously verified directly with Sahara's
lawyers, and a simple meta data test will show no documents have been
forged, it said.
Upon agreement of Sahara with support from the
Supreme Court of India to a sale of the assets, Mirach said it "stands
ready to publicly disclose the identity of our investors who have
historically earmarked funds for this transaction to which Mirach has
had access."
Numerous financial institutions, legal counsel, and
investors, have repeatedly declined the opportunity to engage with this
transaction because of the public profile and legal troubles of Roy, it
said.
Mirach likewise recognized the associated risks, but
nonetheless was committed to rescue the distressed assets in the centre
of this proposed structure, the statement added.
"In light of the
breach of contract, Mirach is no longer considering an offer for the
loan structure, however remains ready, willing and able to facilitate an
acquisition of these assets," it said.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])