JSW Steel, promoters acquire around 88% stake in bankrupt Monnet Ispat after NCLT approves Rs 2,875 cr bid

New Delhi: JSW Steel and its promoters have acquired around 88 percent stake in the Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd (MIEL) following completion of the insolvency resolution proceedings, MIEL said Tuesday. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had earlier approved an Rs 2,875-crore bid by a consortium of Aion Investments and JSW Steel to acquire the bankrupt Monnet Ispat & Energy, which owes over Rs 11,000 crore to a clutch of lenders. The Aion-JSW consortium was the sole bidder for the 1.5-million-tonne asset in Chhattisgrah. According to a filing by MIEL, JSW Steel Ltd, Crexient Special Steel Ltd, JTPM Atsali Ltd, AION Investments Private II Limited and JSW Techno Projects Management Ltd have been allotted around 87.52 crore equity shares and compulsorily convertible preference shares representing 87.91 percent shareholding of the company. [caption id=“attachment_4407133” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] MIEL had recently said the insolvency resolution plan approved by NCLT was completed under which JSW Steel provided a working capital advance of Rs 125 crore. It had also said Rs 2,457 crore has been paid to the secured financial creditors. Monnet Ispat, once one of the country’s foremost steelmakers, ran a successful coal-based sponge iron plant with an annual capacity of 1.5 million tonnes in Chhattisgrah. The company ran into problems when coal mines attached to the plant were cancelled in 2014 after the Supreme Court order. Crashing steel prices on account of Chinese dumping further aggravated its crisis and resulted in bankruptcy proceedings. Monnet was one of the 12 accounts that the Reserve Bank had identified in its first list tagged as the ‘dirty dozen’ for an immediate resolution mid-last year.