JSW Steel scouts for PE funding in Bhushan Power deal
JSW Steel is scouting for private equity to fund its ?19,700-crore bid to acquire the stressed Bhushan Power and Steel asset. JSW Steel has emerged the highest bidder trumping Liberty House and Tata Steel. Initially, the bid of ?17,000 crore placed by Tata Steel was orally declared as the highest bid ahead of JSW Steel’s ?11,500 crore. Bhushan Power and Steel, which had defaulted on ?47,000-crore loan, was among the first 12 stressed assets referred for insolvency process in July 2017. On Monday, Bhushan Power’s Committee of Creditors will place JSW Steel bid before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal for approval. However, Tata Steel, which had bagged the parent Bhushan Steel in a separate insolvency process, has already expressed interest to hike its bid for Bhushan Power. JSW Steel — which has drawn plans to invest ?45,000 crore over next three fiscal years in various capacity expansion projects — is considering various funding options through financial institutions, said a source. The company is also open for joint control of the asset as in the case of Monnet Ispat where Aion Capital was the majority stakeholder, he added. However, both JSW Steel and Aion Capital were joint bidders for Monnet Ispat. JSW Steel has pumped in only ?375 crore as equity and quasi-equity instruments even though Monnet Ispat was acquired for ?2,875 crore. After taking over control of Bhushan Power, it has to transfer the equity into a special vehicle purpose and can also attract private equity investment, sources said.
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