India’s First Private Hill Station Lavasa Sold To Darwin Platform For Rs 1814 Cr

The sale of Lavasa, India's first private hill station, to Darwin Platform Infrastructure has been approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which would bring relief to buyers and lenders. Following lender approval, the NCLT gave the go-ahead to Darwin's resolution plan, which included a payout of Rs 1,814 crore over eight years. This sum consists of Rs 929 crore paid to the lenders and Rs 438 crore used to provide 837 accepted homeowners with fully built homes.

The resolution plan's objective is to satisfy the homebuyers' claims and deliver completed houses within five years of receiving environmental clearance on an actual cost basis. The entire claim amount is Rs 6,642 crore. The action is anticipated to allay the long-standing worries of many stakeholders connected to the Lavasa project.

Homebuyers looking to acquire properties in the Lavasa project will be required to bear the actual future construction costs payable to Darwin Platform Infrastructure. This provision aims to ensure transparency and accountability in the process of obtaining the fully constructed properties under the approved resolution plan.

As per the order, "In order to provide a transparent mechanism for the construction costs, the resolution applicant proposes that it shall constitute a 'construction cost determination committee' of 4 members consisting of equal representation of FCCA/homebuyers' representatives and the resolution applicant's management team." 

Union Bank of India, L&T Finance, Arcil, Bank of India, and Axis Bank are some of Lavasa's largest financial creditors. Lavasa, created by Hindustan Construction Company, was intended to be a metropolis in the style of Europe and is located in the picturesque Mulshi Valley in the Western Ghats close to Pune.

On Friday, the NCLT members, Shyam Babu Gautam and Kuldip Kumar Kareer, issued the order approving the sale of Lavasa to Darwin Platform Infrastructure. The Mumbai-based Darwin group, with interests in retail, realty, infrastructure, and other businesses, had actively participated in the bidding process for Jet Airways and Reliance Capital previously. Ajay Harinath Singh, the group's chairman, is a first-generation entrepreneur.

The Lavasa Corporation had been granted permission to construct dams on the Warsgaon river and establish the necessary infrastructure for the city's development.

Raj Infrastructure Development India, one of Lavasa's creditors, filed a bankruptcy petition against the company after it failed to meet its payment obligations. The petition was approved in August 2018.