Arcelor Mittal's Essar Steel wait gets longer

The Supreme Court on Friday halted the resolution process of Essar Steel, holding back ArcelorMittal SA’s takeover bid for the stressed steel mill and enter the Indian steel industry. The order, temporarily halting a lower court ruling for ArcelorMittal to pay ?42,000 crore in the next two weeks to Essar, also spells a further delay for banks waiting to resolve their stressed loan accounts of Essar Steel. An apex court bench headed by Justice RohintonFaliNariman ordered the parties to maintain status quo on the 8 March order of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Ahmedabad, which approved the resolution plan and a 9 April order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which was to set a date for ArcelorMittal to make the payment. The court was hearing a plea by Standard Chartered Bank, one of the lenders to Essar Steel, which is unhappy with the settlement it would receive under the resolution plan. The court also directed the NCLAT to dispose of the case expeditiously. The next date of hearing at the NCLAT is on 23 April.