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A marathon hearing for the Essar Steel insolvency case at the Ahmedabad Bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) concluded on Friday with the bench asking the bidders to submit their written submission and circulate it amongst themselves by Monday.
In the fray for the bankrupt steel maker, Numetal and ArcelorMittal on Friday defended their eligibility, which was rejected by the Resolution Professional on the grounds of non-compliance to a few provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC).
Counsels of Resolution Professional (RP), Committee of Creditors (CoC), Numetal and ArcelorMittal made their concluding arguments on Friday.
The VTB Bank-backed Numetal prayed deferment of opening of the bids from the second round until the matter in the first round is resolved.
Appearing for Numetal, Mihir Thakore challenged its disqualification in the first round of bidding, which was held on February 12 and asserted that ArcelorMittal has to pay its dues to another defaulter Uttam Galva before submitting bids for Essar Steel.
ArcerlorMittal, on the other hand, represented by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, defended its eligibility on the grounds that it had severed its ties through sale of shares in Uttam Galva.
Earlier on Thursday, RP's counsel Darius Khambatta had justified the disqualification of LN Mittal-backed ArcelorMittal by the RP saying that “as on the cut-off date of February 12 for first round of bids, ArcelorMittal was still the promoter of another defaulter Uttam Galva since the stock exchange's approval came later in late March".
Praying before the NCLT, CoC's counsel stated that the second round of bids be allowed to be opened even as bidders including Numetal and ArcelorMittal, besides the RP, continue to challenge each other. “The 290-day window of the insolvency process under IBC was ending on April 29," the CoC coulsel stated.
The Bench comprising two adjudicating members Harihar Prakash Chaturvedi and Manorama Kumari stated that the order pronouncement may be made on April 12.
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