The State Bank of India is looking to sell 154.31 billion Indian rupees of loans related to Essar Steel India Ltd. on a 100% cash basis.

The state lender has set a minimum recovery of 113.13 billion rupees and a reserve price of 95.88 billion rupees based on the net present value of minimum recovery discounted at 18%, according to the Jan. 16 release.

The dues include working capital loans, a term loan, corporate loans and export performance bank guarantee and standby letter of credit.

"The facility may be assigned in whole or in part and all the security in relation to the same will be transferred and shared pari-passu to the extent of the amount of facility assigned," according to the auction notice.

Parties are required to submit expressions of interest by Jan. 18, and the bidding process is expected to start Jan. 30.

According to a Jan. 17 Live Mint report, the state bank abandoned its first attempt at selling off the Essar Steel loans in September 2018. The debt totals over 490.00 billion rupees and is owed to over 24 banks led by the state bank.

In late October 2018, ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. won a combined bid to acquire Essar Steel for 420 billion rupees, or about US$5.7 billion, in an upfront payment to the insolvent steelmaker in India after its Committee of Creditors chose them as the winning bidders.

ArcelorMittal also agreed to invest 80 billion rupees, or about US$1.1 billion, in Essar Steel operations.

As of Jan. 17, US$1 was equivalent to 71.11 Indian rupees.