Decks cleared for Essar Steel's takeover by ArcelorMittal/ Twitter
The NCLAT Thursday cleared the takeover of Essar Steel by ArcelorMittal after it rejected all objections raised by the shareholders of the debt-ridden company. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), however, gave operational creditors equal footing into the proceeds of insolvency auction.
The two-member NCLAT bench, headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhyaya, rejected Essar Steel Director Prashant Ruia's contention that ArcelorMittal was ineligible to bid under insolvency and bankruptcy law because of allegedly holding shares loan defaulting companies.
The NCLAT had earlier reserved its order over a batch of petitions against ArcelorMittal's Rs 42,000-crore takeover bid for Essar Steel as well as the distribution of funds among the creditors of the debt-ridden company.
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The bench said that the Committee of Creditors (CoC) will only look at the viability of the resolution plan submitted by the bidder and will not get into the distribution of the amount among different creditors.
Distribution of the amount will be done by the resolution applicant as the CoC has no authority on it. Total claims of financial and operational creditors stand revised to Rs 69,192 crore.
Meanwhile, an Essar Steel spokesperson said, "It appears that new facts regarding ineligibility under Section 29A which emerged only after the previous judgment of the Supreme Court, have not been given due consideration. We are awaiting the detailed order and decide our course of action thereafter."
