On October 24, SteelOrbis reported that Essar Steel creditors had started the voting process for accepting the ArcelorMittal offer. As of November 20, Gail India and Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation have joined to seek the rejection of the ArcelorMittal Rs 42,000 crore (US$5.8 billion) resolution plan. The two state-run companies have filed separate applications for claims to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) totaling Rs 1,800 crore (US$252 million).
As operational creditors, the two firms are slated to benefit little from the financial creditor’s agreement. All operational creditors are slated to recuperate Rs 214 crore (US$30 million) against RS 4,976 crore (US$697 million) in debts.
Essar Steel Asia Holdings Ltd (EASHL), shareholders of Essar Steel, in an effort to maintain control of the company offered to pay off all outstanding debts of both financial and operational creditors immediately after the ArcelorMittal offer. Secured creditors voiced concerns about the EASHL offer as financing was not clear and some wondered why the offer came so late in the process instead of timely installments when debts were due.
A source close to SteelOrbis noted that while operational creditors may succeed in increasing their return on debts owed by pressing ArcelorMittal to increase the offer through the latest legal strategy, most in the industry do not believe their claim will sway the previous financial creditors' acceptance of the ArcelorMittal offer since the NCLT also has as a mandate to secure stable, long-term investments for the previously identified bankrupt assets under its process.