TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Tata Steel seems to be closing in on Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Steel and, with a bit of luck in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), could become the country’s largest steelmaker for the first time. Just a week ago, the Tata group company was declared a successful resolution applicant by the committee of creditors (CoC) of Bhushan Steel for buying out its stressed assets.
The decision is yet to be cleared by the NCLT. Once Bhushan Steel is into its fold, Tata Steel will increase its capacity from 12.7 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 18.3 mtpa.
That is pretty close to the 19.5 mtpa capacity of JSW, which has got an informal nod from the CoC to buy out Monnet Ispat & Energy, for which it was the sole bidder with private equity fund AION. The NCLT, Mumbai, has, however, stayed the creditors’ meet to put the resolution plan to vote till April 3.
Yet that equation could change, depending on the final call on who grabs Bhushan Power & Steel. The Tatas are again the highest bidder, leaving behind their arch-rival JSW. But, putting a spanner in the works is the UK-based Liberty House, which also made a bid for the company after the deadline and has questioned the decision of the CoC to reject its bid.
