After Essar Steel, Arcelor now eyes Essar Projects
ArcelorMittal, which has emerged the top bidder for Essar Steel Ltd after a lengthy battle, has now set its sights on another Essar Group company undergoing insolvency resolution, a person aware of the development said.
The world’s largest steel producer is expected to submit its bid for EPC Constructions (earlier called Essar Projects India Ltd) by 12 November, the person cited above said on condition of anonymity. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Essar Projects Ltd Dubai, EPC Constructions is involved in building infrastructure projects, power plants and refineries, among others.
The person said ArcelorMittal has completed due diligence on the company and used the data room open to bidders. Officials of ArcelorMittal have also visited the engineering division’s plant in Surat, he said.
“ArcelorMittal wants to use the whole gamut of services pro-
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vided by this company as it would help it in its future expansion in India,” the person said.
He said EPC has an in-house engineering & project management division, a procurement division as well as a fabrication facility, which will benefit ArcelorMittal.
A spokesperson for ArcelorMittal declined to comment. An email sent to the resolution professional of EPC Constructions remained unanswered till press time.
Lenders had declared loans to EPC a non-performing asset (NPA) on 31 December 2014, and issued a demand notice on 8 November 2017, documents available with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) showed. The banks then asked EPC’s corporate guarantors to repay the loan. The rupee term loan was guaranteed by Essar Investment Ltd and the working capital loans were guaranteed by Imperial Consultants and Securities Ltd.