Business Standard

VTB owns 40%, Ruias 25% in Numetal

- SURAJEET DAS GUPTA & ISHITA AYAN DUTT write

Nu metal, the firm that has bid for Essar Steel, is 40 percent owned by Russia’ s VT B group and 25 percent by a trust where Re want Ru ia is the trustee. The balance is held by Russian engineerin­g firm Tyazhprome­xport (T PE ), and a trading company. TPE is a design and engineerin­g consultant as well as an equipment supplier.

Numetal, the company that has bid for Essar Steel, is 40 per cent owned by Russia’s VTB group and 25 per cent by a trust where Rewant Ruia, son of Ravi Ruia, is the trustee. The balance is held by Russian engineerin­g firm Tyazhprome­xport (TPE), and a trading company.

TPE is a design and engineerin­g consultant as well as an equipment supplier. The company, which has designed many steel plants across the world, played an active role in the modernisat­ion of SAIL’s Bhilai and Bokaro plants.

Sources close to the developmen­t said the bids for Essar Steel would be opened on Wednesday. Essar Steel, which has a steelmakin­g capacity of 9.7 million tonnes, received only two bids on Monday, from Numetal and ArcelorMit­tal India.

The bids will be vetted by legal experts. The Ruias' problem is that according to the IBC amendment last November promoters cannot bid for stressed assets unless they pay off their dues.

The Ruias have, however, made it clear that they will not be paying the dues to make the account standard.

Essar Steel has no management control over Numetal. Numetal is pitted against ArcelorMit­tal. The LN Mittalled company will also have to clear the eligibilit­y test. The steelmaker has sold its stake in Uttam Galva Steels and LN Mittal has sold his personal shareholdi­ng in KazStroySe­rvices (KSS), which owns 100 per cent in KSS Petron Private Limited. Both the transactio­ns happened ahead of the Essar Steel bid.

Essar Steel will be one of the biggest debt resolution cases for lenders. The company owes banks around ~440 billion and was on the Reserve Bank of India’s first list of defaulting companies for referral under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

 ??  ?? TPE is a design and engineerin­g consultant as well as an equipment supplier
TPE is a design and engineerin­g consultant as well as an equipment supplier

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