Amid high drama, JSW, Tata emerge as serious bidders for Bhushan Steel

Employees of Bhushan Steel also submit an offer for the company

Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW Steel and Tata Steel have emerged as the two serious bidders for Bhushan Steel as binding bids closed on Saturday. The employees of Bhushan Steel have also submitted an offer for the company. ArcelorMittal said it had not put in a bid for the company. 

Bhushan Steel was sent for debt resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code after it failed to repay Rs 440-billion debt. 

An e-mail sent to Deloitte, the resolution professional for Bhushan Steel, did not elicit any reply. 

ArcelorMittal spokesperson said: “ArcelorMittal can confirm it has not bid for Bhushan Steel, but we remain interested at looking at future opportunities in India.” 

Deloitte has now decided to open the three bids only on Tuesday afternoon, almost 72 hours after the bid closing time.

Bids double the liquidation value of Bhushan Steel at Rs 150 billion were expected. However, how much the banks would recover upfront remains to be seen. 

Senior employees of Bhushan Steel said that the bid by employees was backed by the entire management team except promoter Neeraj Singal. Around 400 employees are supporting the resolution plan. 

Bhushan Steel operates a 5.6 million tonnes per annum capacity plant in Odisha. Both JSW and Mittal were eyeing the plant to enter the eastern market. Bhushan Steel was one of the top 12 companies identified by the Reserve Bank of India for debt resolution in June last year. 

JSW Steel has already emerged as a winner of Monnet Ispat, while Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta is the top bidder of Electrosteel Steels, which would give Agarwal an entry into the steel industry in the country.