JSW emerges top bidder for Bhushan Power and Steel

On Monday, JSW Steel also revised its bid from the earlier Rs19,000 crore to Rs19,700 crore, while Tata Steel surprisingly retained its initial bid of Rs17,000 crore. UK-headquartered Liberty House increased its bid by Rs500 crore to Rs19,000 crore, reports quoting sources close to the development said.

Tata Steel had emerged the winner in the first round of bidding. But the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) directed Bhushan Power’s Committee of Creditors (CoC) to go for rebids after the other firms offered to raise their offers.

Tata Steel had since appealed to the Supreme Court against the NCLAT decision to consider revised bids. However, the apex court refused to stay the NCLAT order.

The CoC will now submit the leading bids — of JSW Steel and Liberty House — to NCLAT, which will then approve the highest bidder’s proposal on 17 August .

JSW Steel has also provided SBI’s guarantee to fund the acquisition.

With the buyout of Bhushan Power, JSW Steel will retain its position as the country’s largest private sector steel producer with a capacity of 22 million tonnes per annum while Tata Steel, with a capacity of 19 mtpa, will remain the second largest.

Tata Steel had earlier acquired Bhushan Steel through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process.

Once JSW acquires the assets of Bhushan Power, it can enhance its steel making capacity to 5 mtpa from 3.5 mtpa with an investment of Rs1,500 crore.

Earlier, Tata Steel had beaten JSW Steel to bag the 5 mtpa capacity Bhushan Steel with its bid of Rs35,000 crore. JSW Steel, on the other hand, had acquired Monnet Ispat and Power for Rs2,800 crore.

Bhushan Power and Steel is a producer of flat and long steel products, with plants located in Chandigarh, Derabassi, Kolkata and Odisha.