Tata Steel, JSW-Piramal JV bid for Bhushan Steel

Debt-laden Bhushan Steel Ltd said Tata Steel, JSW Living Pvt Ltd and a consortium of the company's own employees have submitted bids to take over its assets. The company in a filing to BSE said that as part of the resolution process, "the resolution professional (RP) has received resolution plans from Tata Steel, JSW Living Private Ltd and Employees of Bhushan Steel Ltd". JSW Living Pvt Ltd is a joint venture between JSW and Piramal Enterprises. Bhushan Steel shares soared close to 20 per cent to hit upper circuit limit of Rs 53.85 on BSE. Trading volume spurted more than 1.37 times on BSE with over 27 lakh shares changing hands, exchange data showed. The stock surged 19.91 per cent to Rs 53.90 on NSE as over 1.37 crore shares were traded on the platform. A broad summary of the resolution plans were presented by the RP to the committee of creditors (CoC) in their meeting held on February 16, 2018, Bhushan Steel said. The company further said that the RP and its advisors will now review the plans so as to ensure that these plans are in conformity with the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and additional requirements as stipulated by the CoC in the process document. "Once the resolution plans are identified, another meeting of CoC will be convened to present the compliant plans for the consideration of the CoC," Bhushan Steel said. When asked about Tata Steel's bid offer, its managing director and CEO TV Narendran said, "I would not comment on the numbers. Media report says we are the highest ... if media reports about other bids are right then probably we are the highest." The company was interested in these assets right from the beginning because these are in the eastern region, he told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by CII here. Bhushan Steel, one of the 12 non-performing accounts referred by the Reserve Bank of India for National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) proceedings, owes Rs 44,478 crore to its lenders. It makes auto-grade steel in India. According to the Bhushan Steel’s website, it is the third largest secondary steel producer in the country with annual capacity of 5.6 million tonne.