Battery major Eveready is looking to acquire a minimum of an 80% stake in Uniross for US$13.65 million.

Battery major Eveready Industries us getting ready for an acquisition. After reporting a profit for fiscal year 2009, the company has set its eye on French company Uniross SA. For this, the company has set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to acquire minimum of an 80% stake in Uniross for $13.65 million.
Uniross is into the business of manufacturing and distribution of rechargeable batteries and allied products. Eveready has signed a term sheet with Paris-based CG Holding for investment through SPV. The company plans to invest a total of $13.65 million or Euro 10 million in the deal through mix of debt and equity, it said in a filing to BSE. The deal closing is subject to certain conditions and approvals.
Indian equity markets have rallied by more than 20% since April, even though uncertainty over election results persists. Several companies have also filed for IPO. But are Indian companies now ready for overseas acquisitions?
Eveready's stock was up by nearly 5% closing at Rs 25.40 on a day when markets fell by 1.22%. The company has a market cap of Rs 185 crore.
Last month Eveready reported an after-tax profit of Rs 19.40 crore fiscal 2009 against a loss of Rs 19.32 crore in 2007-08. While battery contributes around 70% of the company’s turnover, it's also into lighting, packet tea and flashlight businesses. The company is promoted by Khaitan group.
Eveready recently launched recently launched 'Ultima' alkaline battery and 'HomeLight' LED cells, and is expecting revenues to double to rs 1600 crore in FY10. The company is now focusing more on alkaline batteries, CFLs, LEDs as it believes they have the highest growth potential.
In 2005, Eveready had acquired BPL Soft Energy System, the battery business of BPL, for Rs 67 crore. That acquisition had helped it consolidate its position in the Indian market. The company has a 56% market share in conventional battery market in India.

Source: vccircle

Eagle, Burgmann Merge Indian Businesses in a $70 Million Deal

Germany based Burgmann Industries and Japan based Eagle Industry have merged their mechanical seals operations in India. The new entity will be called EagleBurgmann India Pvt. Ltd. The combined value of the transaction is approximately $70 million. Both Eagle and Burgmann are the makers of mechanical seals and sealing systems, which are used in various industries like power generation, oil and gas production and refinery & petrochemicals etc. Both the companies have been operating in India through separate entities and with different local partners. As part of its global integration strategy, Eagle and Burgmann decided to buyout both the local joint-venture partners and pool the resources of the separate entities into a single vehicle. Both the companies hold equal stakes in the newly formed entity. The combined value of the transaction was approximately $70 Million. The legal and operation integration as well as the negotiations with the local partners were facilitated by BMR Advisors. Besides enlarging the product base, the integration of the operations of the two companies is expected to provide better economic, operational, financial, technological and market synergies. Burgmann Group’s product range includes mechanical seals, gas lubricated seals, seal supply systems, magnetic couplings, stuffing box packings, static seals, automotive seals, rotary kiln sealing systems and expansion joints. The product portfolio of eagle Industry includes mechanical seals, valves, plant devices, marine products, bellows devices, and related installation work.

Source: VCCIRCLE

Siva In Talks To Pick Up Stake in Telco S Tel

NRI businessman C Sivasankaran may just be planning a re-entry into India's rapidly growing telecommunications market. Economic Times reports that Sivasankaran is in talks to buy the stake of one of the private equity promoters who hold a 51% stake in S Tel, a Chennai-basedcompany holding license in six states. Sivasankaran, known as Siva, sold his stake in Aircel for $1.08 billion to Maxis Telecom in 2005. Earlier this year, S Tel sold a 49% stake to Gulf-based Bahrain Telecommunications Co and Millennium Private Equity for $225 million. S Tel has licenses to operate in 6 Indian states - Bihar, Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, North East and Assam. The company can also provide broadband services across the country as it has a Category A ISP license. S Tel is promoted by Skycity Foundations and Mauritius-based Telecom Investments. The real identity of the investors of S Tel is not known. The directors of the company, as mentioned on the company website, are S Natarajan, Santhosh Robert and Padmavathy Suresh. Siva's re-entry come on the backdrop of the term of his non-compete agreement, which he had signed Maxis Telecom, ending in March this year. He was also barred from buying more than a 10% stake in an Indian telecom firm. In the meantime Siva bought a 8.6% stake in Tata Teleservices Rs 1,200 crore in 2006, which fell to to 6% after Japan's NTT DoCoMo bought 26% stake earlier this year. He is also said to have invested Rs 350-400 crore in Unitech Wireless. Siva has made fortunes buying, turning around and then selling Indian companies. His investment firm is known as Siva Ventures. Besides Aircel, he sold coffee chain Barista, which he bought over for Rs 65 crore (~$15 million) to Italian chain Lavazza for $125 million. Another one of his investments was Tamilnad Mercantile Bank.

Source: Economic Times

India-focused M&A at $7.4 bn; lowest in 4 yrs

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving Indian firms in 2009 so far have been the lowest in four years for comparable periods, touching just $7.4 billions, thanks to the global economic slowdown. M&A volume of $7.4 billion represents a massive 51 per cent decline from the corresponding period a year ago, global deal tracking firm Dealogic said. Out of $7.4-billion M&A deals involving Indian firms, inbound deals amounted to $1.6 billion where foreign firms bought stake in Indian companies. "Inbound cross-border M&A fell to $1.6 billion via 70 deals so far this year, down 77 per cent from last year. The US remained the biggest investor in Indian firms with $483 million via 21 deals," Dealogic added. Outbound M&A activity fell drastically to just $334 million through 34 deals, a 96 per cent fall from the same period last year. The US was the most targeted nation as M&As worth $157 million were carried out through 10 deals, as compared to $1.6 billion via 29 deals last year to date. The oil and gas sector was the most active segment this year. The space cornered as many as six deals worth $2.1 billion. Besides the largest M&A transaction -- Reliance Industries’ open offer to acquire the remaining 25 per cent of Reliance Petroleum for $1.7 billion also happened in this section.

Source: Business Standard

India offloading stake in Asian Development Bank

India is offloading its equity in the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), Indonesian news agency Antara said on Tuesday, quoting officials. Indonesia is ready to acquire 1.5 per cent of India's stake to increase its equity in the bank from current 5.5 per cent, the agency said. India owns a 6.3 per cent stake in the ADB, while China has a 6.4 per cent. The largest shares in the bank are held by the US and Japan, each holding 15.57 per cent. India has been wanting to increase its shareholding in the other multilateral organisations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Source: Antara

Reliance Big TV plans to divest 49% in DTH arm

To expand its services in the five-player private direct-to-home (DTH) market, Reliance Big TV Ltd, the promoter of Big TV DTH services of the Reliance ADA Group, plans to sell up to 49 per cent to foreign private equity companies and global DTH players. According to sources, a clutch of leading private equity companies like the Carlyle Group, Sequoia Capital, KKR and US-based DTH firm Direct TV are said to be in talks with Big TV, which launched in August 2008. The company expects to close the deal this quarter, sources close to the development said.
Investment banking sources said the company expects to raise about Rs 8,000 crore. Big TV is currently the second smallest player, with just over 1.8 million subscribers out of 12.5 million DTH customers in India. It is, however, hoping to leverage the Big brand, which also has interests in multiplexes, film production, FM radio and the movie rental business. Big TV is the only DTH firm with no foreign investments. All other DTH players — Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel's Digital TV and Dish TV — have foreign investments of more than 20 per cent, industry sources said. Government norms allow 49 per cent foreign investment in DTH, with a rider that the foreign direct investment (FDI) cannot exceed 20 per cent within the overall 49 per cent foreign investment cap. Asked about the deal, a Reliance ADA Group spokesperson declined to comment, saying Reliance ADA Group is committed to its shareholders and will continue to explore various options to increase the shareholders’ value. Big TV claimed to have added over one million subscribers within 90 days of its launch, a record of sorts amongst DTH players.
All DTH players are currently looking for finance because the DTH service business model involves a significant financial subsidy for subscriber acquisition. Dish TV, with over 5 million subscribers, is the leading DTH player, followed by Tata Sky (about 4 million), Sun Direct (over 2.3 million subscribers), Big TV and Digital TV.

Source: Business Standard

Suzlon pays 30 mn euro for REpower stake

Suzlon Energy Ltd, India’s largest maker of wind turbines, paid €30 million (around Rs200 crore) to Martifer SGPS SA as part payment for a stake in a REpower Systems AG, the Portuguese company said in a statement on its website. The money was received on Thursday. Suzlon needs to pay the remaining €175 million this month to complete the purchase of the 22.4% stake in REpower, Martifer said. Suzlon paid €65 million in December as the first instalment for the stake, Martifer said.

Source: Livemint

Panel backs M&A in telecom

A committee set up to resolve the controversy over allocation of airwaves or spectrum to telecom operators asked the government to modify its policies to allow consolidation in the industry, while opposing a three-year stock sale ban on promoters of companies that acquired telecom licences last year. The communications ministry and telecom regulator Trai had proposed the lock-in period to keep out non-serious players eyeing quick profits. The committee said, instead of imposing a ban on sale, the government should modify existing policies to allow larger operators to buy new entrants to fulfil their spectrum requirements. While suggesting several changes in India’s telecom M&A norms to allow consolidation, the committee criticised the current policy for leading to fragmentation of the sector by allowing about 15 players per circle. All telcos should be allowed to buy and sell spectrum and pay a fee to the government, the panel said, adding that the country should adopt the internationally-accepted auction system for issuing additional airwaves to telcos. ET had reported on April 24 that the committee would recommend auctions for all future spectrum allocations. The committee comprises representatives of the government, telecom regulator Trai, telecom technology experts and industry executives. The committee admitted that some players who received spectrum at a fixed fee may sell it or merge with another company making huge profits without rolling out a network. “Such gains can be moderated by levying a spectrum transfer or merger charge on all such transactions. Allowing such moderated gains is a small price to pay for moving to a market-based mechanism for spectrum allotment,” it said in its draft report, which was submitted to the department of telecom on Friday. The market should be allowed to determine the optimum number of operators by facilitating spectrum transfer and merger, the report said. Currently, India follows a controversial practice of allocating spectrum based on companies’ subscriber base, and is the only country in the world that follows this method. The report said that only the start-up spectrum, which is the minimum amount of radio frequencies that is required to launch mobile services, should be given for free for existing telcos. All subsequent allocations should be only through auctions, it said. The committee has recommended a flat fee for radio frequencies allocated to telcos since January 17, last year, the date on which the committee was set up. But, this one-time fee will be determined by the upcoming 3G auctions. For instance, if Vodafone Essar has been awarded 2 units of radio frequencies in Delhi & Mumbai after January 08, it will have to pay a fee equivalent to what the same amount of airwaves fetched during the 3G auctions. As per the current policy, all telcos share 2-6% of their annual revenues with the government as a fee for using the radio frequencies allotted to them. The committee said this fee should be a flat 3% irrespective of the quantity of radio frequencies that is held by a telecom company. The committee also refused to endorse demands from certain sections of the industry that all existing operators pay a one-time fee for the excess spectrum they hold in order to ensure a level-playing field with new entrants which only have start-up spectrum. The committee felt that that the government need not worry about ensuring an absolute level-playing field between licensees who entered the market at different points in time. “Variable pricing of resources for entrants at different times happens with natural resources like land for industrial development as well. Early or late entry comes with a set of advantages and disadvantages,” the report said. The committee said auctions can be held at regular intervals where telcos get airwaves in blocks of 1 MHz each. It also said that the current cap where GSM operators can hold a maximum of 15 MHz and CDMA players 7.5 MHz be done away with. Instead, it proposed an alternate methodology where a telco can take part in auctions as long as it does not hold more than 25% of the total spectrum available in that state or circle. This implies, the cap will be different for each circle as the availability of radio frequencies varies from state to state. Companies that enter the industry in the future the license will not come bundled with start-up spectrum, and these companies ‘would have to go to the market even for their initial airwaves, recommended the committee.

Source: Economic Times

Britannia Ind to buy Fonterra's stake in NZ JV

Britannia Industries Ltd has informed BSE that the company has entered into an agreement dated April 28, 2009 with Fonterra Brands (Mauritius Holding) Ltd, Mauritius, for acquiring the latter's 49% Equity and Preference shareholding in Britannia New Zealand Foods Pvt Ltd (BNZF), their joint venture company engaged in Dairy business. This acquisition is subject to Reserve Bank of India approval. With this acquisition, Britannia along with its wholly owned subsidiary will hold the entire equity and preference capital of BNZF.

Source: Business Line

Vedanta says buys 9.5 percent stake in HudBay

Indian mining group Vedanta Resources Plc (VED.L) said on Monday it had bought a 9.5 percent stake in Canada's HudBay Minerals Inc (HBM.TO) but gave no reason for the move. London-listed Vedanta, India's largest base metals miner, confirmed a Globe and Mail newspaper report that it had bought the stake, 14.5 million hudBay shares, through a subsidiary, Lakomasko BV, a privately-held company based in Amsterdam. "They do control that stake. It (Lakomasko) is an organisation that is controlled by Vedanta Resources," Vedanta spokesman Robin Walker said in London, declining further comment. HudBay shares were up 3.3 percent to C$7.83 by 1515 GMT, adding to a 9 percent rise on Friday. The shares have more than doubled in 2009 since ending last year at C$3.06. The Globe identified K. Coimbatore Venkatakrishnan as the principal and top executive of Lakomasko. He was the chief executive of Vedanta's Konkola Copper Mines in 2006. KCM is Zambia's largest copper producer. Vedanta, which has been aggressively expanding outside its home base in India, last week got approval from a U.S. bankruptcy judge to go ahead with a plan for its unit Sterlite (STRL.BO) to buy copper miner Asarco LLC for $1.7 billion. [ID:nN22274894] HudBay chief executive Peter Jones began his second stint as CEO last month after a failed attempt to take over fellow Canadian miner Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) prompted a shareholder revolt that forced the company's former board and management to step down. Jones's first turn as CEO ended when he was pushed out in January 2008 for not seeking acquisitions aggressively enough. He said in March that HudBay would try to expand through takeovers, and may be open to overtures from larger players. Jones was part of a slate put forward by shareholder SRM Global Master Fund, which wanted HudBay to distribute its war chest of approximately C$700 million to shareholders. Jones has said the company will only do that if attempts to expand through acquisition fail.

Source: Reuters

Marico scouts for buys in domestic market

As part of its inorganic growth strategy, FMCG major Marico Ltd is aggressively scouting for acquisitions in domestic markets. The company is planning to acquire two regional brands in the beauty & wellness sector in India. Currently, the company is in talks with two players based in southern states in this space, informed industry sources. Incidentally, Marico has decided to divest its entire stake in its wholly owned subsidiary Sundari LLC which is engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of skincare cosmetics in the USA. According to industry analysts, Marico will be investing in domestic acquisitions after completing its formalities to divest stake in Sundari LLS. “Since the acquisition of ‘Manjal’ (herbal soap) in Kerala in 2006, Marico has been scouting for southern skin care brands for a while”, said an analyst based in Mumbai. In 2006, Marico had bought out Hindustan Lever Ltd's Nihar brand for a Rs 227 crore. In the same year, the company also acquired Fiancee (a hair care brand) from Egypt-based Ready Group.
When contacted, Chaitanya Deshpande, head of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Marico declined to comment on Marico’s specific acquisition plans. “The company has identified inorganic growth as part of its corporate strategy and is open to considering acquisition opportunities. We can not comment on any specific opportunities,” he said. On the rationale behind Marico’s decision to divest in Sundari LLC, Deshpande said that a majority of Sundari’s revenue is generated from B2B sales to spas located within luxury resorts and hotels globally. “Sundari constituted only a small share of Marico’s revenue. Moreover, the US which is Sundari’s base, has not been a part of Marico’s focus geographies for growth, which has come increasingly from Asia and Africa. The divestment is thus a logical part of Marico’s global strategy,” he added. The Group posted a net profit of Rs 188.7 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009, 11.6 % higher than the Rs 169 crore net profit for the year ended March 31, 2008. The group’s total income rose by 25 % to Rs 2402.6 crore for the year, compared to Rs1914.5 crore for the previous year. Enthused by its performance in FY 09, Marico is planning an increase in its advertising and marketing spend in 2009-10

Source: Financial Express

RPT-3i Infotech to buy biz from JP Morgan Treasury

3i Infotech Ltd on Monday said it agreed to buy J.P. Morgan Treasury Services' national retail lockbox business (NRLB) to expand capacity and capabilities of its unit Regulus. "Virtually all NRLB employees have been offered positions with Regulus, which will process more than 700 million payments annually once after the deal. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Source: Reuters

Piramal plans to buy 2-3 firms in U.S., Europe

Piramal Healthcare Ltd is eyeing acquisitions in the U.S. and Europe, and expects growth in business during the current fiscal year to remain same as that in FY09, a senior official said on Wednesday. "We expect to buy 2-3 companies in advanced markets like the U.S. and Europe," Swati Piramal, director, Piramal Healthcare told reporters. "The company expects the same level of growth as witnessed in the last fiscal," she said, adding the firm plans to add 300-400 professionals in the super-speciality marketing division. She ruled out any proposal to sell stake in Piramal Healthcare or Piramal Life Sciences Ltd.

Source: Reuters

Insecticides India to merge Advance Crop Solutions Ltd

Insecticides India Ltd has announced that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company was held on April 24, 2009. During the course of the meeting, as part of any other item of the Agenda, it was proposed by one of the Directors to consider amalgamation of Advance Crop Solutions Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company) with the Company. The Board considered that the Company is not required to issue any further shares of account of amalgamation. The Board further noted that the transferor Company is also a profit making Company and hence the merger of wholly owned subsidiary with the Company will not be prejudicial to the interest of the shareholders and creditors of the Company in any manner.The Board constituted a committee of 3 directors comprising of Mr. Rajesh Aggarwal, Mr. Navneet Goel and Mr. Gopal Chandra Aggarwal, to finalize the Scheme of Amalgamation in consultation with the legal advisors, to do all other acts and deeds as may be required in relation thereto and to arrange to file the same with the stock exchanges.

Source: EquityBulls

Escorts Limited to consider merger with American unit on Apr 29, 2009

Escorts Ltd, the agro-machinery arm of the Escorts group, has announced that a meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on April 29, 2009, to consider and approve the merger of its wholly owned subsidiary, Escorts Agri Machinery Inc (USA) with itself and any other consequential matters therein. The Escorts Group is operating in the high growth sectors of agri-machinery, construction & material handling equipment, railway equipment and auto components. Having pioneered farm mechanization in the country, Escorts has played a pivotal role in the agricultural growth of India for over five decades. One of the leading tractor manufacturers of the country, Escorts offers a comprehensive range of tractors, more than 45 variants starting from 25 to 80 HP. Escort, Farmtrac and Powertrac are the widely accepted and preferred brands of tractors from the house of Escorts. In the auto components segment, Escorts is a leading manufacturer of auto suspension products including shock absorbers and telescopic front forks. Over the years, with continuous development and improvement in manufacturing technology and design, new reliable products have been introduced.

Source: Economic Times

Elder Health Care eyeing brand acquisitions

Elder Health Care, the FMCG arm of the Rs 560-crore pharma major Elder Group, is evaluating two Indian brands for acquisition. The two potential targets are in the areas of oral care and body care and will help Elder consolidate its presence in the personal care segment. Elder expects to close each of the deals at a valuation of Rs 5-10 crore. The company wants to complete the acquisitions soon since it wants to capitalise on the present moment when valuations are low. "We are looking at acquisitions to consolidate our presence in the personal care segment. We soon plan to appoint a merchant banker for reviewing the deals," Elder Health Care Ltd managing director Anuj Saxena told ET. Incidentally, Elder already has an oral care brand AMPM Mouthwash. Other popular brands include Fairone (fairness cream), Tiger Balm (pain relief) and the recently launched deodorant body spray ‘Fuel for Men’ in partnership with VLCC. Elder, on Friday, announced its plan to enter the Indian colour cosmetics market. Elder has entered into an exclusive marketing agreement with Germany’s Innovative Cosmetic Brands GmbH to roll out their mid-to-premium segment brand ‘BeYu’ in India. The range will comprise mineral make up, lipstick, foundation, eye shadow, mascara, eye liner and nail enamel. The brand will target urban women in the 25-40 years of age. "Innovative Cosmetic has another premium brand ‘Artdeco’ which we might bring into India. We plan to bring another 2-3 foreign brands in this segment to grow the colour cosmetic segment," said Mr Saxena. The Indian make-up market is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore and growing annually at 30%. Of this, the premium segment is worth around Rs 350-400 crore. Elder also plans to expand its men grooming portfolio by extending the ‘Fuel for Men’ brand into hair gel and after-shave products. "We might foray into the male cologne segment. The idea is to consolidate our presence in the personal care segment with launch of several SKUs," said Mr Saxena.

GMR may take over English Premier League Club Liverpool for £450 mn

Indian billionaire Grandhi. Mallikarjuna Rao may take over English Premier League Club Liverpool for £450 million (around Rs3,300 crore), British newspaper ‘News of the World’ has reported. Rao, who owns Indian Premier League cricket team Delhi Daredevils, is considering a major investment in Liverpool after its co-owner Tom Hicks approached him for a sponsorship, the report said. However, a GMR spokesperson denied the reports. “GMR has no interest in Liverpool, and as a policy, we do not comment on speculative news,” the spokesman told Mint.
It all started with the American co-owners, Hicks and George Gillett, wanting to sell the club for £450 million or invite huge investment to back Liverpool’s re-emergence as a title force.
The two have endured a fractious relationship since joining forces at Liverpool, arguing over the governance and direction of the club, but recently have presented a united front as they strive to attract new finance.

Source: LiveMint

Infy BPO to buy captive operations of clients

Infosys BPO, the back-office arm of India’s second-biggest software exporter Infosys, plans to acquire captive operations of customers, the company seeks to grow its share of the $80-billion global BPO market. Almost two years ago, Infosys BPO acquired back office operations of Philips, which assured around $250 million in revenues over the next few years. The acquisition helped Infosys gain entry into Poland and other European countries. “We are open to similar takeovers if the right deal comes through,” Infosys BPO CEO Amitabh Chaudhry said. “We are not looking at opening any new centres across the globe, but if such a deal comes along that requires them to have a facility, then we would go ahead.” Infosys BPO entered into a seven-year contract with Royal Philips Electronics of Netherlands to provide finance and accounting services and the processing of purchasing orders in a deal valued at $250 million. The Philips centres are turning profitable, Mr Chaudhry added.

Merieux Alliance Part Selling from Shantha Biotech

French healthcare company Merieux Alliance, which holds a 78.85 per cent stake in Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer and biopharmaceutical firm Shantha Biotechnics, might dilute some of its stake, according to Shantha founder and MD KI Vara Prasad Reddy. The company has, however, assured to remain a majority stakeholder and hold at least 51 per cent to ensure that the new partner did not bring a drastic change in the line of operations. The dilution of stake is to bring in new technology, new products or enter new markets or a combination of these. Reddy holds a 14.1 per cent stake in Shantha. The French company picked up a majority stake (60 per cent) in Shantha Biotechnics in November 2006 from Oman-based financial firms to strengthen its India presence. On reports that Shantha was a target for an acquisition, he said the company was attractive with proven capabilities in vaccine development and market penetration and, therefore, many companies including one from Hyderabad were eyeing to acquire it. "I declined to sell my stake in the company so some of them are approaching Merieux for dilution of its stake,'' Reddy said, adding the company, which is not seeing any drastic upward or downward surges, had been getting acquisition proposals from various companies since the late 90s.
Interacting with the media here on Friday on the sidelines of announcing the launch of Shanchol, an oral cholera vaccine, he said the company would continue to work on low-cost vaccines. Shanchol would be priced at about Rs 300 per dose of 1.5 ml and two doses were needed to give protection against cholera for about four years. The commercial launch would be in June or July.
The company has invested about Rs 5 crore over three years in developing Shanchol in collaboration with the International Vaccine Institute, Seoul. It received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the project. Currently, the Hyderabad facility has a capacity to manufacture 5 million doses, which would be ramped up to 25 million doses in about six months.

Source: Business Standard

Tatas pick up 15% stake in Sydney firm

Tata Steel has picked up a 14.99 per cent stake in Sydney-based Riversdale Mining, which owns coal mines in South Africa and Mozambique. Tata Steel has steadily bought into Riversdale, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, through its Singapore-based subsidiary Tata Steel Global Minerals Holdings. In a filing before the Australian Stock Exchange earlier this week, Tata Steel Global Mineral said it had acquired a 4.99 per cent stake in Riversdale through market purchases at an estimated investment of $41 million (Australian), or Rs 143 crore. When contacted, a spokesperson for Tata Steel declined to comment. The Singapore subsidiary of Tata Steel, the sixth largest player in the world in terms of steel making capacity, has been buying into Riversdale through market operations from September last year. By October, it had a stake of 10 per cent. Stock exchange data show it had spent $20.54 million (Australian), or about Rs 70 crore, in October to raise its stake from 7.29 per cent to 10 per cent. With the latest round of market purchases, the company has become one of the largest shareholders of Riversdale.
Passport Capital, Talbot Group and Merrill Lynch & Co are some of the other shareholders in the company. It is Tata Steel’s biggest ever investment in any mining company. The company had paid Rs 106 crore in October last year to acquire a 19.9 per cent share in Canada’s New Millennium Capital Corporation, an iron ore miner. Apart from the Benga coal mine in Mozambique, Riversdale has Zululand Anthracite Colliery in South Africa.
Tata Steel has been scouting for iron ore and coal to feed Corus’s operations in Europe.
Mozambique booty. Tata Steel’s association with Riversdale Mining dates back to August 2007 when it decided to acquire a 35 per cent stake in the Benga project. From then on, the Benga coal mine has increased its production and Tata Steel’s investment has reaped rich rewards.
Riversdale and Tata Steel plan to produce 20 million tonnes of hard coking coal from Benga, up from the initial 5.6 million tonnes. Apart from Riversdale and New Millennium, Tata Steel has an iron ore project in Ivory Coast and a limestone quarry in Oman. It also owns 5 per cent of Australia’s Carborough Down coal project in Central Queensland.

Source: The Telegraph