The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on February 4, 2019, has upheld the ₹19,300-crore bid placed by JSW Steel for the debt-ridden Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd (BPSL).
A Bench comprising of Justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and Bansi Lal Bhat has dismissed the plea filed by Tata Steel contending that its bid be considered as the best offer, as it had been placed ahead of the deadline.
However, the Bench ruled that Tata Steel’s plea was “premature” and “unmaintainable” and upheld the right of the committee of creditors (CoC) to update, amend, modify or annul its resolution plans.
Earlier, Tata Steel had emerged as the highest bidder for BPSL, which had defaulted on loans worth ₹47,700 crore. But thereafter Liberty House of the UK submitted a better offer after the bidding deadline. Tata Steel moved the NCLAT against the order passed by the NCLT wherein it had allowed the CoC of BPSL to consider the resolution plan submitted after the deadline.
Meanwhile, JSW Steel revised its offer from ₹9,500 crore to ₹19,300 crore and it was approved by the CoC with 97 per cent vote.
“We find that the resolution plan submitted by JSW Steel has been approved by the CoC with 97.12 per cent voting shares. If some members of the CoC having 2.88 per cent voting shares remained absent... their shares should not have been counted for voting. We hold that the Resolution Plan submitted by JSW Steel has been approved with 100 per cent voting shares,” the order said.
The NCLAT also directed the resolution professional of BPSL to “immediately place the approved Resolution Plan before the Adjudicating Authority (NCLT) for its order.”
