The race for two debt-ridden Srei Group companies has intensified with the world's largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel Ltd, showing interest in acquiring the companies.

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The steelmaker has submitted an expression of interest (EOI) to acquire Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Ltd (SEFL), which are undergoing a resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Varde Partners and Arena Investors LP have jointly submitted a bid, while another bid is from the investors’ consortium, Shon Randhawa and Rajesh Viren Shah.

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Varde-Arena’s joint bid for Srei Infrastructure Finance and Srei Equipment Finance is more serious as they have paid around Rs 150 crore as the earnest deposit money, while the Shon Randhawa consortium has put conditions on the EMD. They suggested the inclusion of two clauses in the terms of the resolution plan.

The Srei Group under the RBI-appointed administrator Rajneesh Sharma, since last October, has been able to recover about Rs 2,100 crore. The money is lying on the balance sheets.

The RBI-appointed administrator has admitted claims worth Rs 32,749 crore from the company's creditors. So far, transaction auditor BDO India has classified multiple transactions, totalling about Rs 5,000 crore, as fraudulent.

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There were originally 14 suitors who had submitted expressions of interest to acquire Srei group companies under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in March.

The Reserve Bank of India had in early October last year superseded the boards of SIFL and its wholly-owned subsidiary SEFL.