Vedanta, ArcleorMittal, Numetal-JSW submit plan for Essar Steel in round 2

Vedanta, ArcleorMittal and Numetal along with JSW today submitted resolution plans for the debt-laden Essar Steel in the second round of bidding, sources close to the development said. JSW has joined hands with the Mauritius-based investment vehicle Numetal for placing its bid. Only two players, ArcelorMittal and Numetal, had submitted bids for Essar Steel on February 12 in the first round. Both the bids, however, were rejected by the SBI-led consortium of creditors finding them ineligible under the IBC laws that debar related parties from bidding. Numetal, an SPV floated by Russian lender VTB Bank and Rewant Ruia had jointly placed the offer.

Founded by Shashi and Ravi Ruia, Essar Steel was referred to the National Company Law Tribunal last year after accumulating nearly Rs 50,000 crore in debts. Essar Steel is an integrated flat steel producer. Its main production facility is in Gujarat. It has a nameplate crude steel capacity of 9.6 million tonnes per annum, although the current maximum achievable crude steel production level is 6.1 million tonnes per annum, due to a bottleneck in the steelmaking and casting process.

Essar Steel was among the initial 12 companies identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for insolvency proceedings.