JSW Steel has placed a ₹29,700-crore bid for acquiring the stressed asset of Bhushan Steel and has agreed to pay ₹28,000 crore upfront and the rest in equity, according to sources in the banking sector.
The company is believed to have bid aggressively after the committee of creditors decided to negotiate only with the highest bidder.
Tata Steel is believed to have bid about ₹24,000 crore for Bhushan Steel, which has a steel-making capacity of 5.6 million tonnes and owes banks ₹44,478 crore.
However, the resolution professional has not opened the bids by both the companies.
Meanwhile, global metal major ArcelorMittal is speeding up the sale of its stake in bankrupt Uttam Galva Steel to make it eligible to bid for Bhushan Steel. Currently, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code does not allow promoters of defaulting companies to bid for a stressed asset. But now that the bids placed by most of the contenders for Bhushan Steel are in the public domain, a merchant banker wondered whether banks can accept ArcelorMittal’s bid.
The deadline for bidding ends at 2 pm on Thursday and the winning bid will be announced at 4 pm.
Some of the other bidders include Vedantaand AION Capital.