Mumbai: Debt-laden Uttam Galva Steels Ltd on Monday offered to repay its creditors in full, after its previous offer to pay back 51% of its dues was rejected last week. The steelmaker also sought time to arrange the funds.
On 12 April, lead lender State Bank of India (SBI) said it rejected the Uttam Galva offer because under that proposal, it would have had to wait until 2042 for the last instalment.
On Monday, lawyer J.P. Sen representing Uttam Galva Steels informed the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that the company was willing to repay all its debt. “Given the size of the dues, we need some more time to arrange the funds,” he said.
He said some overseas investors were willing to invest in Uttam Galva and hence, the company is seeking a small window to arrange the amount. “We have so many lenders apart from SBI, and we need to take everyone in the account and hence, we are just asking for a reasonable time,” he added.
The NCLT division bench of justice M.K. Shrawat and Ravikumar Duraisamy directed SBI to decide on the offer and inform the tribunal by 24 April. The tribunal will hear the matter on 25 April.
SBI filed an bankruptcy petition against Uttam Galva after the company defaulted on Rs1,486 crore of the total outstanding of Rs1,832 crore. The Mumbai-based listed steel company’s total dues stood at Rs6,880 crore as of September 2017.
Uttam Galva’s lawyer said the company has fixed assets of Rs5,696 crore and it is in a position to repay debt.
Uttam Galva is part of Reserve Bank of India’s second list of defaulters, against whom the central bank had directed swift action.
On 24 March, Uttam Galva informed the stock exchanges that it had received approvals from the BSE and the National Stock Exchange to declassify the world’s largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal as a promoter of the company.
An email query to the company was not answered till press time.