ArcelorMittal’s plan to buy a bankrupt Indian steel company for $6 billion was halted temporarily by the nation’s top court, further delaying tycoon Lakshmi Mittal’s efforts to enter the world’s second-biggest market, Bloomberg News reported. The Indian Supreme Court ruled that Essar Steel India Ltd.’s current status has to be maintained, pending a review by a bankruptcy tribunal hearing appeals related to the sale. The company is currently being managed by a court-appointed administrator. Friday’s ruling was in response to petitions by banks, including Standard Chartered Plc, which are fighting over how money that’ll be received from the company’s sale should be distributed. A lower court had last month approved Arcelor and its partner Nippon Steel Corp.’s offer to pay $6 billion upfront to lenders and invest another $1.1 billion in the Indian steel company. Friday’s court decision disappointed foreign exchange traders, who were expecting an inflow of dollars into India due to the transaction. The rupee extended its drop to as much as 0.6 percent after the court ruling. Shares of State Bank of India — the biggest lender to Essar Steel — declined as much as 1.2 percent in Mumbai, while Arcelor’s stock fell as much as 1.8 percent in Amsterdam. Both stocks later erased the losses.
