Seven bidders show early interest for Vasan Eye

Chennai: There are seven bidders, including a couple of Asset Reconstruction Companies who have expressed preliminary interest to take over the beleaguered eye care chain Vasan Eye. The last date for submission of early interest ended July 19.
The NCLT appointed resolution professional had called for early interest for Vasan Eye Care. India’s largest eye care chain Dr Agarwal’s Eye and MGM Hospital’s promoter MK Rajagopalan, Dr GSK Velu’s MaxiVision are among the list of bidders.Dr Amar Agarwal and MK Rajagopalan did not wish to comment on the bid.
Poster boy of aggressive expansion, Vasan Eye went into insolvency process after it failed to repay debts of nearly Rs 1,628 crore and its creditors dragged the company to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to recover their dues. Its misery was compounded after regulatory authorities initiated probes into investments made by politicians. It further went down the spiral after its promoter Dr Arun died last November, pulling the company into insolvency courts. Two attempts to find a suitor didn't make any progress and the current one is the third.
“Our eye care business MaxiVision has submitted its interest. It is a long shot. Our logic is simple: we are strong in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Vasan has a strong presence in other southern states. Vasan has 94 units operational and earned nearly Rs 140 crore in revenues last year. And since the process is driven by NCLT, legal issues will be dealt with and the asset will come clean to the buyer,” Dr Velu said. Calls and text messages to the Resolution Professional turned futile.