India’s top court approves JSW Steel’s takeover of Bhushan Power and Steel

India (Reuters) – India’s Supreme Court said on Friday that JSW Steel’s (JSTL.NS), $2.3 billion takeover of Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL) could go ahead, reversing its own earlier decision to reject the deal.

In May, the country’s top court rejected the deal six years after it was first approved, unsettling buyers of other distressed assets and casting a shadow over Indian bankruptcy reforms introduced in 2016.

JSW then filed a request for it to review the rejection.

On Friday, the court said JSW had revived BPSL by investing heavily in modernization and safeguarded thousands of livelihoods by keeping the company a going concern.

The purpose of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code – to help transform a loss-making entity into a profit-making one – has been achieved, the court said.

The company said in an exchange filing that the Supreme Court has dismissed appeals filed by the promoters and some operational creditors of BPSL.

The Supreme Court cited major procedural lapses for its decision in May to scrap one of the most successful insolvency deals in India’s history – the takeover of Bhushan Power by the country’s biggest steelmaker in 2019.

Shares of JSW Steel rose as much as 1.6% after the news, but trimmed all gains to trade 1.4% lower amid a broad-based sell-off.