Second-round bids put in by Russia's VTB Group-backed Numetal Ltd, ArcelorMittal and Vedanta will be opened on Monday, people with direct knowledge of the development said. The Resolution Professional, overseeing the auction of Essar Steel to recover over Rs 49,000 crore of unpaid loans, sent emails to all the three bidders to be present on Monday for the opening of the second round of bids, they said. This follows an NCLAT judgement last week on the eligibility of bids.

The High Court has granted a temporary injunction preventing an Irish registered aviation company linked to a controversial Russian businessman from going into voluntary liquidation, The Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Michael Quinn made an interim injunction preventing the members of City Leasing DAC, which has registered address in Limerick from holding a meeting of its members, who were due to consider a resolution to wind up the company. The company is beneficially owned by Rashid Mursekayev, who has extensive interests in the aviation industry.

Russian potash producer Uralkali has questioned the process behind the sale of the Force India Formula One team after losing out in a battle between billionaire fathers of young racing drivers, Reuters reported. Uralkali co-owner Dmitry Mazepin is the father of 19-year-old Nikita, who races in the junior GP3 series and is a development driver for Force India. The team were put into administration at the end of July with a rescue deal led by Canadian Lawrence Stroll, the father of 19-year-old Williams F1 racer Lance, announced on Aug. 7.

The ruble extended its steepest slide in almost two years as a fresh round of U.S. sanctions against Russia deepened concern about what could be targeted next, Bloomberg News reported. Investors who had been building long positions in the currency earlier in the summer rushed for the exit, causing a two-day plunge of as much as 5.1 percent. Analysts at Citibank said it looks like traders are already pricing in a worst-case scenario of sanctions on banks and new sovereign debt.

Russia's VTB Capital-backed Numetal on Tuesday said Ruia family scion Rewant will never be in management of Essar Steel even though the rules do not bar blood relations of delinquent promoters from bidding for loan defaulter companies being auctioned to recover dues, Firstpost reported. During the proceedings of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), senior advocate Mihir Thakore representing Numetal said that the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) does not disqualify anyone based on blood relations. Aurora Enterprises Ltd (AEL) had a 25 percent shareholding in Numetal.

Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk, which is battling a shareholder attempt to remove its board, has agreed to provide a last minute bridge loan to a Hong Kong iron ore company in which it owns a 31 per cent stake, the Financial Times reported. The London-listed company said it would provide $29.75m to IRC to enable it to meet a June payment on a loan to ICBC, which was used to fund a mine near the border of China. Petropavlovsk also said it is in “advanced” talks with a major Russian bank to refinance the entire $340m project loan.

It didn’t take long for the world’s biggest bond investors to decide that Russia isn’t quite such a toxic trade after all, Bloomberg News reported. Less than two months after getting caught out with overweight positions as Russian debt was roiled by a fresh round of U.S. sanctions, some traders are finding their appetite again amid a quiet patch in tensions between Washington and the Kremlin. Russia has outperformed all peers this month and is one of only two countries to post a return in a Bloomberg Barclays index of emerging-market local-currency bonds.

Russia’s VTB Capital-led Numetal Mauritius Pvt Ltd. today told the company law appellate tribunal that it has offered over Rs 37,000 crore for Essar Steel Ltd. in the second round of bidding, Bloomberg Quint reported. The second round should be opened and the highest bidder selected from it, Numetal told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. ArcelorMittal, the only other bidder to have put in a bid for Essar Steel in the first round in February, however, opposed the opening of the second round of bids and sought only the first round of bids to be considered.

Russian metals giant Rusal will overhaul its board and management in hopes of persuading the United States to lift sanctions but it may be forced to halt aluminium exports for good if the plan fails, sources close to the company said. Washington this month imposed sanctions on billionaire Oleg Deripaska and several companies in which he is a large shareholder, including Rusal, in response to what the United States called Russia’s “malign activities,” Reuters reported.

Veteran Russia strategist John-Paul Smith has a warning for anyone looking to buy the nation’s stocks on the cheap after this week’s selloff, Bloomberg News reported. “Investors could become collateral damage from the actions of either side in the new cool war,” Smith, a former Deutsche Bank AG strategist and founder of research firm Ecstrat, said in a note published Friday.