The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal approved Shree Naman Developers’ ₹1,800 crore bid to acquire Gstaad Hotels and Neo Capricorn Plaza, marking a significant full recovery in India’s challenging insolvency landscape amid fierce competition and complex restructuring efforts.
Orders published through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India show that the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal approved, on 3 September 2026, Shree Naman Developers’ plans to buy Gstaad Hotels and Neo Capricorn Plaza for a combined ₹1,800 crore. Because that figure is comfortably above the roughly ₹1,227 crore of admitted liabilities, the sale of the companies behind the JW Marriott Bengaluru and Crowne Plaza Pune is set to repay creditors in full and still leave a surplus that the tribunal said can pass to shareholders after creditor claims are settled. (ibbi.gov.in)
The larger payment is ₹1,611 crore for Gstaad, against admitted liabilities of about ₹1,202 crore, while Neo Capricorn is being acquired for ₹189 crore against liabilities of about ₹25 crore. The Economic Times, which said it reviewed the tribunal orders, reported that Omkara Asset Reconstruction overwhelmingly controlled both committees of creditors, holding 95.76 per cent of the vote at Gstaad and 99.93 per cent at Neo Capricorn. The remaining voting shares were split among Global Hospitality Licensing, Kanazawa Holdings, Ahuja Finance Company, HDFC Bank and SEP Energy. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)
The size of the recovery reflects how fiercely contested the process became. Mint reported in August that the two sales followed a six-month bidding exercise which drew 45 expressions of interest in October 2025 and eventually 11 to 12 resolution plans. The competition for the Pune property alone was unusually broad. M&A Critique reported that 42 parties filed expressions of interest for Neo Capricorn’s 176-room Crowne Plaza, with Indian Hotels, ITC Hotels and EIH among the hospitality groups linked to the process, alongside names such as Chalet Hotels, Juniper Hotels, Viceroy Hotels, Manipal Health Systems, Oberoi Realty and Shree Naman. The same report said Gstaad had attracted 40 expressions of interest. (livemint.com)
At the bid stage, the buyer had already shown it was prepared to back the offer with substantial cash support. Mint reported that Shree Naman furnished bank guarantees of about ₹160 crore for the Bengaluru asset and ₹20 crore for the Pune asset, figures that Venture Intelligence summarised as a combined ₹180 crore in performance guarantees. Mint also said the Mumbai group, which already owns Sofitel Mumbai BKC and Ibis Mumbai BKC, intended to retain full ownership of both hotels even though the resolution structure would have permitted the successful applicant to hold only 51 per cent of the equity. (livemint.com)
The road to approval was drawn out. Tribunal records and earlier reporting show the dispute stemmed from a 26 December 2017 Piramal financing package of ₹600 crore shared between the two borrowers: ₹450 crore for Gstaad, a ₹50 crore revolving facility and ₹100 crore for Neo Capricorn, with IDBI Trusteeship appointed as security trustee. The creditor rights were later assigned to Omkara in December 2022. Informist reported that insolvency petitions had first been admitted in January 2024, then challenged and reopened after appellate proceedings. The IBBI’s case lists now show fresh admission orders for both companies on 8 July 2025, which reset the process that eventually led to this week’s approval. (ibbi.gov.in)
Those July 2025 admissions followed claimed defaults of ₹665.74 crore at Gstaad and ₹120 crore at Neo Capricorn, according to The Economic Times. Before the approval, Ryan D’souza, appearing for the creditors, argued that the plan would keep the companies as “going concern” businesses while the properties were refurbished and redeveloped. ET Hospitality World reported that the proposal goes beyond a simple hotel overhaul, envisaging a mixed-use scheme that includes luxury hospitality alongside residential and retail or commercial elements. Senior advocate Prateek Seksaria, appearing for resolution professional Jayesh Sanghrajka, told the tribunal that the Gstaad plan provided for an upfront payment intended to deal with admitted and contingent liabilities. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)
That combination of prime operating assets, near-total control by one creditor and a crowded bidding field helps explain why this case has produced such an uncommon result under India’s insolvency regime, where lenders more often accept deep losses. For Shree Naman, the ruling adds two trading hotels in major business markets to a run of distress-led acquisitions that already includes Neptune Developers, bought in April 2025, and Radius Infra Holdings in 2024. The company’s stated plan is to keep both hotels running while working through the longer redevelopment and refurbishment strategy. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)
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