A consortium of Maharashtra state government-owned power generation company Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd. (Mahagenco) and public sector NTPC Limited (NSEI:NTPC) has emerged as the top bidder to take over the 1,350 MW Sinnar Thermal Power Limited plant near Nashik. Mahagenco's bid of INR 38,000 million is above the second-placed Adani Power Limited (NSEI:ADANIPOWER) in the initial round of bids.

Lenders are evaluating legal and other compliances of the bidders, following which negotiations with individual bidders will start, said people familiar with the process. "The early bids put the Mahagenco-NTPC partnership at the top. The second-placed bidder is behind as its bid is less than INR 30,000 million.

But the plans are still at the initial stage and we could see revisions since all parties interested are serious players in this sector," said a person familiar with the process. Resolution professional (RP) Rahul Jindal did not reply to an email seeking comment. Commodities company Vedanta Group, Naveen Jindal's Jindal Power, Kolkata-based Orissa Metaliks and Varde Partners' Singapore-based arm VFSI Holdings are among seven companies that have made a formal bid to take over the distressed 1,350 MW Sinnar Thermal Power.

Individual bidders could not be contacted. The Mahagenco-NTPC combine is best placed because it runs the 2,190 MW Koradi power plant near Nagpur and can use its existing infrastructure to supply coal and run the plant. All bidders have submitted an initial resolution plan, including a INR 100 million deposit.

BoB Caps, the investment banking arm of Bank of Baroda, is the advisor to the committee of creditors (CoC), while Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co is the legal advisor. Trilegal is the legal advisor to the RP. Power Finance Corp.

(INR 65,530 million) and its subsidiary REC (INR 52,620 million) are the top two creditors of the company, which owes total dues of INR 159,090 million. Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India and Life Insurance Corp. are other creditors to the company.