Essar Steel Says It is Considering Increasing Offer for Esmark Inc.

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
Essar Steel Holdings Limited (Essar), a part of the multi-billion
dollar Essar Global Limited, a diversified business conglomerate with
interests in the sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Shipping &
Logistics, Telecommunications, Mining & Minerals, and Construction,
today informed the Esmark Board of Directors that it was ready to
consider a potential increase to its April 30, 2008, offer to acquire
Esmark Inc. at USD 17 per share. Essar also said that it would
consider making an increased bid after it had obtained additional
information from Esmark.

Essar, on the invitation of Esmark and UBS, the firm's financial
advisors, participated in a bidding process for the sale of Esmark
shares. After following all legal procedures and a transparent bid
process, Essar's offer was unanimously accepted by the Esmark Board.

Following Esmark's acceptance of Essar's offer on April 30, 2008,
Essar entered into a memorandum of agreement with Esmark to acquire
Esmark Inc. at an estimated enterprise value of USD 1.1 billion which
includes a proposed tender offer for a cash purchase price of USD 17
per share of all outstanding shares of the Nasdaq listed steel
company.

Simultaneously, at Esmark's request, Essar also immediately
extended a USD 110 million loan to Esmark, which helped the company
address a potential default. As part of the acquisition strategy,
Essar has also proposed a capital expenditure program of USD 525
million for Esmark's Ohio and West Virginia manufacturing facilities
over the next five years.

In a letter sent today to the Esmark Board of Directors, Essar
specifically sought information on "any arrangements or understanding"
that Severstal may have had with Franklin Mutual Advisers, LLC, an
institutional shareholder of Esmark, who Essar understands has agreed
to tender their shares into the Severstal offer. ESHL also urged the
Board to "recognize its continuing obligations under the Memorandum of
Agreement, dated April 30, 2008, and in particular Esmark's agreement
to enter into the Merger Agreement upon the expiration of the Right to
Bid period provided in Article Eleven, Section D of the CBA."

About Essar Global

Essar Global Limited (EGL) is a diversified business corporation
with a balanced portfolio of assets straddling the manufacturing and
services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Telecommunications,
Shipping, Ports & Logistics, Mining & Mineral Resources, and
Construction. EGL has an enterprise value of approximately USD 50
billion and employs 30,000 people worldwide.

About Esmark Incorporated

Esmark Incorporated is a vertically integrated steel producer and
distributor, combining steel production capabilities through both
blast furnace and electric arc furnace technologies with the
just-in-time delivery of value-added steel products to a broad
customer base concentrated in the Ohio Valley and Midwest regions.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Essar Steel is a global producer of steel operating out of India,
North America, the Middle East and Asia. It is a fully integrated flat
carbon steel manufacturer - from iron ore to ready-to-market products.
It has a current capacity of 8.5 million tons. With Essar's expansion
in India, Asia and North America, capacity is expected to rise to
about 20 million tons by 2012. Essar successfully acquired Algoma
Steel in Sault Ste Marie, Canada, in 2007, where following a capital
expenditure program and incorporating improved work processes, it has
increased production from 2.5 MTPA to 3.4 MTPA in just 10 months.

Essar Energy operates a fully integrated oil company of
international size and scale in India. Its assets include development
rights in proven oil & gas blocks, a 12 million tons per annum
refinery, currently being expanded to 34 million tons per annum, and
over 1,500 fuel stations across India. Plans are under way to increase
exploration acreage, further acquire / build oil refineries
internationally, and open a total of 5,000 fuel stations.

Essar Power operates five power generation plants with a capacity
of 1,200 megawatts. Its portfolio includes gas and coal fired plants
and renewable energy sources. Essar is currently increasing its
generation capacity to 6000 MW of coal and gas fuelled plants, with an
investment of approximately USD 5 billion. It also plans to enter the
power transmission and distribution markets.

Essar Telecommunications is the single largest investor (with a
33% interest) in Vodafone-Essar, a joint venture with Vodafone Group
and one of India's largest cellular service providers, with 46 million
subscribers, currently adding 2 million subscribers every month. Essar
owns 'The MobileStore', India's largest national retail chain of
mobile phone stores. Essar has a major presence in the telecom
infrastructure space with one of the largest investments in tower
companies. Essar operates India's 4th largest business process
outsourcing business operating under the Aegis brand, with 20 centers
spread across USA and India staffed by over 20,000 employees.

Essar Ports, Shipping & Logistics is a comprehensive, end-to-end
player in maritime transportation, ports and terminals, logistics,
contract drilling and allied services. It is a global shipping and
logistics provider with sea and surface transportation services,
oilfield drilling services, dry and liquid terminals, tankage and
associated pipelines.

Essar Projects is a global engineering procurement and
construction company based in Dubai with offices in India and China.
The Essar Engineering Center specialises in detailed engineering and
design for large projects. Global Supplies specialises in procurement.
Construction executes projects for industrial plants, civil &
irrigation projects, pipe laying - both offshore and onshore, marine
construction and highways and expressways. Heavy Engineering Services
manufactures pressure vessels, reactors, vacuum vessels and cranes.
Essar Constructions undertakes projects on a turnkey basis, with a
pipeline division certified at ISO 9001.

Essar Mining & Minerals owns iron ore and coal mines in India and
overseas. It has acquired the U.S. based Minnesota Steel that has iron
ore reserves of approximately 1.5 billion tons.

Essar-Americas
Madhu Vuppuluri, President, +1 212-758-5520
or
Burson Martseller
Keith Dorman, +1 412-874-0502
or
Essar, India
Manish Kedia, Sr. Vice President, +91 98197 30092
or
B Ganesh Pai, General Manager, +91 98197 30225
or
Maitland, UK
William Clutterbuck, +44 207 379 5151

Copyright Business Wire 2008