India

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India has tightened the entry barriers for insolvency professionals by bringing in a new set of austere amendments with effect from April 1 which will ensure that only seasoned professionals are allowed to function, The Economic Times reported. With these measures, a bunch of 76 home-grown insolvency professional entities (IPEs), a kind of boutique firm, are now staring at a better prospect over their peers.

Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal’s ArcelorMittal will on Wednesday challenge in court the legitimacy of a bid for Essar Steel India Ltd. by a group led by VTB Capital, intensifying the battle for the biggest industry asset yet to be sold under a new bankruptcy law, Bloomberg News reported. Mittal’s steelmaker has several reasons to question the eligibility of the VTB-led Numetal Ltd. group, including that Aurora Enterprises was part of the consortium at the time of an initial round of bidding, Brian Aranha, an executive president at ArcelorMittal, said in an interview in Mumbai.

Three bidders, including two new players, have submitted resolution plans after lenders called for fresh bids in Essar Steel Ltd.’s insolvency process, Bloomberg News reported. These include a joint venture between ArcelorMittal India and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, Nu Metal & Steel Pvt. Ltd, in which JSW Steel is an investor, and the Vedanta Group, according to two people in the know who spoke to BloombergQuint on the condition of anonymity. Of the three, ArcelorMittal-Suitomo JV had participated in the earlier bidding as well.

Tata Steel Ltd. has offered Rs 35,200 crore in cash, and conversion of the remaining debt of about Rs 27,000 crore into equity, to take over Bhushan Steel Ltd., the counsel for the committee of creditors informed NCLT today, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors will get 12.27 percent equity in Bhushan Steel, Senior Advocate Ravi Kadam told the principal bench of the National Company Law Tribunal. “Tata Steel is the highest bidder (H1) offering an upfront payment of Rs 35,200 crore. Remaining debt would be converted into equity,” he said.

Private lender ICICI Bank said it will convene a board meeting on Monday to review cases under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which are before the National Company Law Tribunal along with other routine matters, The Business Standard reported. "ICICI Bank's Board meeting being held today is a pre-scheduled board meeting convened for review of cases which are before the National Company Law Tribunal under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and other routine matters," the private bank said in a regulatory filing to the BSE.

India’s Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd will try for a third time to sell sugar mills it owns in Brazil at an auction as part of a recovery plan in its in-court debt restructuring, according to court documents seen by Reuters. Renuka, which entered Brazil in 2010 and owns four sugar and ethanol plants in the country, presented a new plan to the court overseeing its bankruptcy protection case that proposed to sell the Revati or Madhu mills located in Sao Paulo state, or possibly both, Reuters reported.

A massive $32 billion bailout package for India's dominant state-run banks will not happen again and lenders will have to find their own funding by selling non-core assets and merging with each other, a senior government official said on Monday. Twenty-one banks, majority owned by New Delhi, account for more than two-thirds of the banking assets in Asia's third-biggest economy, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. These lenders also account for close to 90 percent of soured loans in the banking sector.

Vedanta Limited on Saturday informed stock exchanges that it had received a letter of intent (LoI) for Electrosteel Steels. Vedanta had accepted the terms of the LoI and closure of the transaction would be subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and in accordance with the final terms approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the company said in a statement to the exchanges, Business Standard reported. Though Vedanta did not disclose the bid value, it is believed to have offered Rs 55 billion for Electrosteel Steels, which owes banks Rs 103 billion.

The Bombay High Court has directed the sale of six ships operated by Varun Resources, India’s largest operator of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, now financially insolvent, The Economic Times reported. “the Sheriff of Mumbai shall have the defendant vessels…. …apprised by independent surveyors..fix the terms and conditions of sale…issue advertisement and take all steps to complete the sale and make a report to this court for confirmation of the sale….,” the court mandated on Tuesday, adding there will be an auction, the winner of which will be announced on April 20.

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India is moving fast to put in place a disclosure regime for companies undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process, Bloomberg News reported. The regulator has released a draft discussion paper and sought comments from the public by April 15. SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi had told reporters on Wednesday that the regulator would make changes to the listing regulations for companies under CIRP after a 15-day consultation process.