NCLAT nod to Arcelor buying Essar Steel

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Monday gave a conditional go-ahead to a Rs 42,000 crore offer by world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal to buy Essar Steel, taking the billionaire Lakshmi Mittal closer to his dream of opening a shop in his home country.

A two-member bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya said the acceptance of the resolution plan submitted by ArcelorMittal and partner Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp will be subject to its final order in the appeal filed by the promoters of debt-laden Essar Steel against the move.

It also said there is no stay on disbursal of the funds among financial and operational creditors of Essar Steel, which was auctioned to recover unpaid bank loans.

This came almost 20 months after the insolvency petition against Essar Steel was admitted by the Ahmedabad-bench of NCLT on August 2, 2017, and the entire process has been tied up in legal wrangles as the promoters used every legal forum available to challenge the process.

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