Aamby Valley goes under hammer at Rs37,392 cr reserve price

The Bombay High Court has put up the Aamby Valley property owned by the Sahara Group near Pune in Maharashtra for a public auction to recover the dues the Subrata Roy-promoted group owes to various lenders. The official liquidator has set a reserve price of Rs 37,392 crore for the property.

Last week the Supreme Court had dismissed the Sahara Group's plea to postpone the auction of the property. (See: SC rejects Subrata plea to stay Aamby Valley auction).

Notices have been issued in media of the public auction of "sale/lease" on an "as-is-where-is-whatever-there is' of Aamby Valley City. The auction will take place in two phases for two days.

The apex court had declined to stay the auction of the property despite the group claiming to have sold its two New York hotels, which it said would generate $1.67 billion to deposit the requisite amount in the joint account with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The properties being auctioned include integrated hill city development spread over 6,761.64 acres, 1,409.86 acres of land surrounding Aamby Valley City Development and 321.65 acres of land in the adjoining Satara district of Maharashtra.

"The ultra-exclusive chartered city has residential options ranging from the Timber Chalets to fabulously modern and customized villas in distinct architectural styles and several amenities such as golf course, airport, hospital, adventure sports, retail, entertainment, international school and hospitality," said the official liquidator's auction notice.

The liquidator has invited prospective bidders to bid for the properties along with 15 per cent of the reserve price as earnest money.

According to PTI, major corporate houses such the Tatas, Godrej, Adani and Patanjali as well as real estate developers including Omaxe and Eldeco have shown interest in buying the Sahara Group's 30 properties. But there's no knowledge if these companies will also bid for Aamby Valley.

The valuation of most of Sahara's properties is expected to take a hit due to the need to get the deals closed within a short time.

The Supreme Court had on 25 July asked Roy to deposit Rs1,500 crore in the SEBI-Sahara account by 7 September. The court had said that it would then consider his plea seeking 18 months for making complete repayment.

The Sahara Group has to repay around Rs9,000 crore balance amount of the principal amount of Rs24,000 crore.