Bidding to Win
While ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel and Vedanta draw plans to buy Essar Steel, the Ruia family, too, is looking for a backdoor entry. Can it succeed?
It was assumed all along that Essar group director Prashant Ruia's frequent trips to Moscow would conclude with the sale of Essar's oil refinery business to Russian oil giant Rosneft. But there is more to it than meets the eye. The Moscow visits seem unlikely to end soon since the Ruias are now working towards forming a consortium with Russian bank VTB and Hong Kong based SSG Capital Management to regain control of the debt laden Essar Steel, put up for sale under the bankruptcy law. Essar Steel has over `43,000 crore of debt on its books.
As things stand, VTB and SSG are expected to contribute the lions
