Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Oct 02, 2007
ePaper


News
Features
Stocks
Cross Currency
Shipping
Archives
Google

Group Sites

Corporate - Overseas Investments
Industry & Economy - Coal
Coal SPV may look at iron ore blocks

Priority is to acquire coal properties abroad, says Steel Secretary


“The SPV is likely to take shape soon with the Steel Ministry planning to put the proposal before the Cabinet.”


Phalguna Jandhyala

New Delhi, Oct. 1 The special purpose vehicle (SPV) promoted by five public sector undertakings (PSUs) to scout and acquire coal properties abroad might also look at acquiring iron ore blocks.

“Though the first priority of the SPV would be to acquire coal blocks, a couple of companies have said that they would also like to scout for the acquisition of iron ore blocks and we are not averse to this idea,” Steel Secretary, Mr R.S. Pandey, told on the sidelines of an event here on Monday.

The five PSUs who are part of the SPV are Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), NTPC Ltd and Coal India Ltd (CIL). The acquisitions are to be undertaken with a view to ensure coal supplies for the steel and power sectors.

Mr Pandey also said that the SPV is likely to take shape soon with the Steel Ministry planning to put the proposal before the Cabinet.

“It is just a matter of days before the proposal is sent to the Cabinet for final approval,” he added.

The proposed SPV last month got the necessary clearances from the Finance Ministry and a couple of the other departments, including the Planning Commission.

The SPV does not call for budgetary support and the understanding among all the companies is that a portion of their profits would be made available. The shareholding pattern of the new company would be in proportion to the coal requirement of the individual company.

The SPV would have an authorised capital of Rs 10,000 crore and a paid-up equity of Rs 3,500 crore. While SAIL and CIL would chip in with Rs 1,000 crore each, the other three companies would contribute Rs 500 crore. Meanwhile, the process of signing the memorandum of understanding by all the companies involved has been completed.

The SPV is expected to meet around 10 per cent of the requirement of SAIL and RINL. Currently, both the companies import around 15 million tonnes (mt), but this is expected to go up to around 45 mt to 50 mt by the time the expansion and modernisation plans of both the companies are completed.

The SPV would be looking at three routes for acquiring the stake. It might look at the possibility of a buyout of an existing coalfield or may look at buying a stake through the stock exchange and lastly may take the prospecting route.

More Stories on : Overseas Investments | Coal | Minerals

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page



Stories in this Section
Steel prices rise by Rs 400-800/tonne


Tata Tea goes for single umbrella brand
Sterlite bags QualTech Prize 2007
Chemistry of corporate teams
First meeting of quality review board for CAs on Oct 5
Gulf Oil hints at hiving off units
Time Technoplast acquires Ned Energy for Rs 50 cr
Falcon Tyres plans expansion, new product lines
SAIL investing Rs 1,000 cr in 3 pellet plants
Coal SPV may look at iron ore blocks
Ruia group buys controlling stake in Malaysia’s Industronics
‘MNCs invest abroad more for securing inputs for their final output’
Cadila looking at fresh jt ventures in Europe, Gulf
Cades plans to diversify into composites
Tata Motors may relaunch Indica cars in UK, Europe
Italian group Itema to start production in Coimbatore
Timken India plans to tap infrastructure boom


The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription
Group Sites: The Hindu | The Hindu ePaper | Business Line | Business Line ePaper | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line