IMR Metallurgical, Kalyani Steels in race for SBQ Steels 

Leading alloy steel maker Kalyani Steels and Swiss trading company IMR Metallurgical are in a race to acquire SBQ Steels, a bankrupt company that has an integrated plant located at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from these two bidders, Shyam Metalics and Orissa Metaliks too have shown interest in the steel company, the sources said. The company was referred to bankruptcy court by Union Bank of India. The resolution professional, Ashish Rathi, who is backed by consulting firm BDO, has received total claims of Rs 3,630 crore from financial creditors of SBQ Steels. Other lenders include Bank of Baroda and Edelweiss ARC. BQ Steels, the flagship company of Chennai’s RKKR Group, has an integrated steel plant located at Krishnapatnam to manufacture 0.25 MTPA of forging grade alloy and special steel. It also owns two power plants with 45MW capacity each, an electric arc furnace, a rolling mill and a coke oven plant. Lenders said that the plant is strategically located, given its proximity to two major seaports that could enable the bidder to tap large export markets in Africa and South East Asia.