Lenders to Essar Steel on Wednesday urged the NCLAT to complete its insolvency resolution process in "quick" time, saying the debt-ridden company is incurring a daily loss of Rs 17 crore.

At a hearing of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Sudipto Sarkar, counsel appearing for the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Essar Steel, requested it to expedite the process.

Locked in a direct fight to acquire Essar Steel, ArcelorMittal on Thursday sought disqualification of Russia’s VTB Capital-backed NuMetal Ltd, alleging that the firm was acting in concert with delinquent promoters of Essar group.

When first bids for loan defaulter Essar Steel were called in February, Rewant owned 25 per cent in Mauritius-based investment vehicle NuMetal.

Lenders to Essar Steel feel that ArcelorMittal, “a serious and credible resolution applicant”, has displayed “a genuine intention and taken concrete steps” by attempting to clear overdues in defaulting firms whereit was a shareholder.

This was stated by ArcelorMittal, with reference to the documents presented in the NCLAT on Wednesday.

Odisha Slurry Pipeline Infrastructure (OSPIL), which owns the pipeline carrying iron ore to Essar Steel, has not been receiving payments from the steelmaker, Sunil Kanoria, vice-chairman, Srei Infrastructure Finance, has confirmed. Essar Steel is currently in the midst of a corporate insolvency resolution process. Kanoria told FE that since the pipeline is a leased asset, payments should have been regular. “It’s an operating expense and the company should have paid the monthly rentals.

Lenders to Essar Steel may not allow Numetal to change its corporate structure stated in the second round of bidding if it comes up for consideration.

“The committee of creditors (CoC) may not allow Aurora Enterprises to be dropped from Numetal because this is not a fresh request for proposal (RFP),” a major lender said.

Essar Steel lenders have moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal seeking an early hearing of appeals filed by suitors for the insolvency-bound firm, saying they are losing a lot of money because of the delays.

The NCLAT had on May 22 ordered status quo on insolvency of Essar Steel for two months as it admitted petitions of NuMetal and ArcelorMittal over the bidding eligibility.

Mumbai: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday directed the insolvency resolution professional and committee of creditors (CoC) for Essar Steel Ltd as well as National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) Ahmedabad bench to not pass any order, including an order of liquidation, with respect to Essar Steel’s insolvency.

Indian lenders will have access to Rs 70 billion deposited by ArcelorMittal in an escrow account, but only after the L N Mittal-owned company gets approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to take over Essar Steel and all pending litigation against the stressed steel asset are resolved before the acquisition.

VTB-backed Numetal on Thursday disclosed in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that its bid value in the second round of bidding for Essar Steel is Rs 370 billion, short of double its first offer of Rs 190 billion, and about Rs 65 billion higher than ArcelorMittal’s bid in the first round.

Mumbai: ArcelorMittal Netherlands BV’s transfer of Rs7,000 crore to settle the dues of Uttam Galva Steels Ltd and KSS Petron Pvt. Ltd is conditional on Essar Steel Ltd lenders accepting its bid for the company in the ongoing insolvency resolution process, two people aware of the matter said.

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