New Delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday reserved its order on finalisation of bids submitted for debt-laden Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL). A two-member NCLAT bench headed by chairperson Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya completed hearing the arguments on a plea filed by Tata Steel Ltd. which alleged that lenders of BPSL allowed rival JSW Steel Ltd. to change the basic parameters of its bid after declaring Tata Steel as the highest bidder.

The tribunal also asked all concerned parties to submit their written submissions (if any) by 26 December.

In October, more than two-thirds of Bhushan Power and Steel lenders voted in favour of a revised offer by JSW Steel, turning on the heat in a contest for an asset, which is also being pursued by Tata Steel and UK’s Liberty House.

In the initial round of bidding, BPSL received bids of ₹ 11,000 crore from JSW Steel, ₹ 17,000 crore from Tata Steel and ₹ 18,500 crore from Liberty House. Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Steel subsequently revised its bid to ₹ 9,700 crore, which won lenders’ approval.

“Four out of five changes submitted by JSW are changes in basic parameters such as timing of proposed payments, sources of funds for various payments proposed, letter of commitment and increase in the offer," said senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing on behalf of Tata Steel.

The NCLAT had, in an interim order on 6 August, allowed all three contenders —Tata Steel, Liberty House and JSW — to file additional unconditional “resolution plans" by 13 August 2018, improving their financial offer without compromising the basic parameters of the ‘resolution plans’ already submitted by them. But the Committee of Creditors allowed JSW to change basic parameters of its resolution plans.

On 17 July, the NCLAT had stayed the meeting of CoC when they were going to vote for finalising the highest bidder for BPSL.

Bhushan Power and Steel owes more than ₹ 48,500 crore to a consortium of lenders led by Punjab National Bank. It is one of the 12 large companies identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for early resolution. It operates a 3.5 million tonne (mt) steel plant in Odisha.

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