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NCLAT Directs Essar Steel To Call Meeting Of Committee of Creditors To Rejig Funds

The NCLAT was hearing an application moved by Standard Charted bank, an operational creditor of the company.

A security guard pulls a gate across the logo of Hutchison Essar Ltd. at the company’s corporate office in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Bloomberg News)
A security guard pulls a gate across the logo of Hutchison Essar Ltd. at the company’s corporate office in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Bloomberg News)

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal asked the resolution professional of Essar Steel to call a fresh meeting of Committee of Creditors to discuss distribution of Rs 42,000 crore coming from ArcelorMittal's resolution plan.

A two-member bench headed by Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya has asked to reconsider distribution of the funds between financial and operational creditors of Essar Steel in the meeting.

“The resolution professional may call for the meeting of the Committee of Creditors for reconsideration of distribution of funds,” the bench said.

The NCLAT was hearing an urgent application moved by Standard Charted bank, an operational creditor of the company.

The appellate tribunal has directed to list the matter on March 27 for the next hearing.

Standard Chartered moved the NCLAT against the plan as its counsel contended that the bank was being given only 1.7 percent of its total dues on Essar Steel, while other financial creditors, forming part of the CoC, were getting over 85 percent of their dues.

ArcelorMittal's resolution proposal provides financial creditors Rs 41,987 crore out of their total dues of Rs 49,395 crore.

Operational creditors, under the plan, would get just Rs 214 crore against the outstanding of Rs 4,976 crore.

If the ArcelorMittal plan is implemented, Standard Chartered will only get Rs 60 crore against its claims of Rs 3,187 crore from Essar Steel.

Essar Steel owns a 10-million-tonne steel mill at Hazira in Gujarat.

This was was among the first 12 cases selected by the Reserve Bank of India to be resolved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.