Cone of silence descends on Essar Steel Algoma sale process – by David Helwig (SooToday.com – May 16, 2016)

https://www.sootoday.com/

It’s getting harder and harder to report on the latest news from the Essar Steel Algoma restructuring. A court-ordered sales and investment solicitation process (SISP) is underway to identify a new purchaser or investor.

Everyone involved has been made to sign non-disclosure agreements. The latest papers filed with Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice are covered with blacked-out sections intended to keep the sales process under strict secrecy.

Confidentiality is considered especially important in this case because Essar Global Fund Ltd., the Cayman Islands-based parent company of Essar Steel Algoma, is known to be a possible bidder for the Sault steel operations.

“In view of the parent company’s potential involvement and in order to avoid a potential conflict or the appearance of a conflict, the monitor [a court-appointed third party overseeing the restructuring process] put in place an information-sharing protocol for dealing with information relating to the SISP,” says Monitor Brian Denega in a report filed last week.

This article presents what SooToday has learned, reading between the redacted lines on almost 600 pages of fresh documents filed in recent days. We realize that our reporting at this point raises more questions than it answers.

For the rest of this article, click here: https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/cone-of-silence-descends-on-essar-steel-algoma-sale-process-296486