Lenders seek fresh bids for Bhushan Power & Steel as JSW ups offer to Rs18,000 cr

The Committee of Creditors (CoC), which met in Delhi on 27 July, has subequently asked for fresh bids by 31 July.

After JSW submitted a revised bid of over Rs18,500 crore for the stressed assets of Bhushan Power & Steel rival bidders could also make revised offers.

JSW Steel sent a letter with the revised offer to the Committee of Creditors of Bhushan Power & Steel on Thursday night, a day before the committee's meeting to finalise the offer. JSW is offering lenders an upfront payment of Rs18,000 crore.

A Moneycontrol report quoting sources said Liberty House is also expected to put in a revised bid by then.

While Tata Steel had offered Rs 17,000 crore, Liberty House’s offer was at Rs 18,500 crore. All the three companies have promised to invest Rs7,000 crore in the operations of Bhushan Power & Steel.

The Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel had initially offered Rs11,000 crore against Tata Steel’s offer of Rs17,000 crore. Industry officials point out that the revised offer for Bhushan Power & Steel could be because of the uncertainty over Essar Steel.

JSW had teamed up with the Numetal consortium in the second round of auction for Essar Steel where it is pitted against ArcelorMittal, with both Numetal and ArcelorMittal approaching the NCLAT over the eligibility issue. The NCLAT is expected to issue an order in the coming weeks.

On 17 July, NCLAT had stayed the meeting of Committee of Creditors, which was set to vote on Tata Steel’s bid for Bhushan Power & Steel.

Bhushan Power's operational creditors had alleged that the resolution professional hadn’t allowed their representative to attend the lenders meeting.

There are as many as 1,700 operational creditors of Bhushan Power & Steel who are asking for their dues to be cleared.