Sale of Assets of a Corporate Debtor under the IBC: Multiple CIRPs?

Partner: Karishma Dodeja, Associate: Sakshi Singh

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) amended the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations 2016 (CIRP Regulations) on 16 September 2022¹ (the amendment to the CIRP Regulations, Amendment). The Amendment introduced a slew of changes to the CIRP Regulations. One of the key amendments was the introduction of provisions in respect of the sale of one or more assets of the corporate debtor by way of resolution plans. Previously, there could be only one (1) resolution plan by one (1) resolution applicant for the whole corporate debtor – this will change considering the recent amendment given that there could be multiple resolution plans and multiple resolution applicants for various assets of the corporate debtor. Consequently, this opens the possibility of multiple resolution processes being run for individual assets of a corporate debtor. We have explored this aspect in greater detail below.

Introduction to Regulation 36B(6A) of the CIRP Regulations

Under Regulation 36B(1) of the CIRP Regulations, the resolution professional (RP) is required to issue a request for resolution plans (RFRP) to prospective resolution applicants (PRA) in the provisional list² or to such applicants which have contested the decision of the RP against their non-inclusion in the provisional list. The RP issues the RFRP further to the RP’s invitation for expressions of interest (EOI) for the corporate debtor (Corporate Debtor) as a whole (i.e., inclusive of all assets³ of the Corporate Debtor).

If resolution plans received in response to an RFRP are not satisfactory, the RP is permitted, with the approval of the committee of creditors (CoC), to “re-issue” the RFRP subject to the condition that such request is made to all PRAs in the final list⁴ of PRAs under Regulation 36B(7) of the CIRP Regulations. Such re-issuance of the RFRP would mean that this is a continuation of the earlier process (i.e., a request for resolution plans for the Corporate Debtor as a whole).

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