Mumbai : Steel giant ArcelorMittal on Monday offered Rs 42,000 crore to acquire Essar Steel, upstaging a Rs 37,000 crore bid by Russia’s VTB Group-backed Numetal, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.
Days after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) held the second round of bids for debt-laden Essar Steel valid, ArcelorMittal India put in a revised offer to the lenders of the company, they said.
This would be in addition to Rs 7,000 crore it will pay to clear dues of Uttam Galva and KSS Petron — delinquent borrowers it was previously associated with — to become eligible to acquire Essar Steel. The dues have to be cleared by tomorrow as per the NCLAT order.
Sources said the second round of bids by three bidders – a consortium of ArcelorMittal and Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, Numetal in association with JSW Steel and Vedanta Ltd, were opened and placed in a sealed envelope for examination by Grant Thorton, advisor to the Resolution Professional.
ArcelorMittal had put in a bid for about Rs 31,000 crore to Rs 32,000 crore in the second round. But before the opening of the bids, it revised upwards the offer to Rs 42,000 crore. This surpasses Rs 37,000 crore offer made by Numetal. It was not clear if Numetal would also revise its offer. The NCLAT had allowed the Committee of Essar Steel Creditors, who are auctioning the company to recover their Rs 49,000 crore unpaid loans, to negotiate the best price from eligible bidders.
Moves SC against NCLAT order
ArcelorMittal on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging the NCLAT order which held that Numetal’s Rs 37,000 crore in second-round bid for Essar Steel was valid. “The petition challenging the NCLAT order has been filed,” the counsel for ArcelorMittal said. The counsel said that the petition will be mentioned in a day or two for an urgent hearing.
