Mumbai : The committee of creditors (CoC) for Essar Steel has sought more information from bidders ArcelorMittal India and Numetal Mauritius regarding their ineligibility, according to sources.
The meeting on Tuesday was called after the Ahmedabad bench of the NCLT led by adjudicating members Harihar Prakash Chaturvedi and Manorama Kumari had asked the lenders to reconsider the first bids submitted by Numetal and ArcelorMittal on February 12 and declared that the second round of bids put up on April 2 were invalid.
After opening and studying both bids, lenders decided at the meeting that it was too premature to call the bids ineligible under Section 29(A) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. On the face of it, ArcelorMittal’s bid for Essar Steel was higher than that of Numetal Mauritius. However, a deeper assessment of the bids is still pending, they added. The bankers also decided to meet again over the next three to four days, two bankers said.
“Tuesday’s meeting failed to take any decisions. There would be another meeting in the next three to four days,” a public sector banker who attended the meeting said.
Another banker said the meeting remained inconclusive, “as there are certain compliance issues under section 29A of the IBC which lenders are examining.”