Adani group eyes Sahara’s real estate portfolio worth Rs 12,000 crore to clear dues

 The apex court agreed to examine the proposal of Sahara, founded by Gorakhpur-based Bengali entrepreneur Subrata Roy, to sell its 88 properties, including the Amby valley in Maharashtra and Sahara Shahar in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, to Adani Properties to clear investors outstanding dues worth ?9,000 crore.

 A bench headed by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, however, made it clear that concerns of hundreds of employees of the Sahara group who had not been paid salaries/arrears since 2014 should be factored before any settlement is reached.

 The bench, which included Justice Surya Kant and Justice M.M. Sundresh, directed the ministry of finance and ministry of co-operation to be impleaded in the case as the issue involved several co-operative societies.

 Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented Adani Properties, an unlisted firm of the Sahara group, assured the court that his client was willing to acquire the entire portfolio of Sahara properties with all its connected claims.

 Sebi, represented by senior advocate Arvind Datar, told the court that the regulator had no objection to the sale of the properties provided that the same was sold at least for 90 per cent of the market value so as to recover the ?9,000 crore dues from Sahara company for paying the same to the investors.

 The Sahara group is selling properties to raise funds to repay investors who had put their money in a financial scheme that was later ruled to be illegal.

 “I have made an offer of buying all the properties, otherwise this litigation will be endless, it will be endless. This struggle will go on. I am also saying that I will take the properties with all the claims,” Rohatgi told the bench during the arguments.

 The move by the Adani group to acquire Sahara properties spotlights the conglomerate’s growing appetite to scale up its real estate business nationally, as it gained prominence by securing redevelopment rights of Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum located in Mumbai.

 While posting the Sahara matter for further hearing to November 17, the CJI said, “We will decide on whether the properties are to be sold piecemeal or in one flock.” 

 The bench appointed senior advocate Shekhar Naphade to assist the court in dealing with the claims of various applicants before the court who had sought payment of their arrears.

 The bench asserted that “competing interests” of various parties had to be considered and their rights crystalised and only after that the court would give its approval for the sale.

 Senior advocate Pradeep Rai argued that payment of employee salaries must be prioritised although other stakeholders were concerned only about their claims.

 The present move by Sahara to sell its properties to the Adanis had come in the backdrop of Sebi’s failure to sell the properties to recover the arrears due to investors as earlier directed by the apex court in the decade long litigation.

 The court had on August 31, 2012, declared two investment schemes run by Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and Sahara India Housing Investment Corp as illegal and asked Sahara to return the money with interest to investors through Sebi.

 As Sahara and its founder Roy dilly dallied on the refund, the apex court had asked Sebi to sell the caompany’s properties for recovery of dues.

 In March 2016, the top court had asked Sebi to sell ?40,000 crore worth of overseas “unencumbered” domestic properties of the group to refund investors’ money to the tune of ?24,000 crore and ?10,000 crore to secure the release of chief Subrata Roy from Tihar Jail, arrested in connection with the case. He was subsequently released.

 Roy passed away in November 2023, which had then prompted Sahara to approach the court for disposing of the properties to settle the dues.