SME Times News Bureau | 22 Jul, 2019
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled status quo on the sale of Essar Steel to ArcelorMittal.
A
bench headed by Justice Rhinton F. Nariman admitted the appeals by
Essar Steel lenders and ArcelorMittal challenging the order of the
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
The court said
it will conduct detailed hearing on the contentions made in the appeal
and also look into the issues emerging from the Essar verdict. The top
court will hear the matter at length after two weeks.
A
consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India had moved the apex
court against NCLAT order that claimed Essar Steel's operational
creditors have to be treated on par with financial creditors at the time
of settling claims in the deal.
Essar Steel is under a debt of Rs 30,030 crore to financial creditors and Rs 11,969 crore to operational creditors.
State-run banks are primary financial creditors of Essar Steel while its operational creditors are vendors and suppliers.
The
tribunal has asked the committee of creditors to engage professional
firms to finalize the exact amount to be distributed among each
operational creditor.
