The Hindu Business Line : Electrosteel to take part in UK co’s £20-m tender

Kolkata, Dec. 8 Electrosteel Castings Ltd, having successfully penetrated the market for DI (ductile iron) pipes, fittings and accessories in Europe and West Asia, is now gearing up to participate in the fresh global tender being floated by Yorkshire Water Services (YWS) of UK. Yorkshire has already put in place a five-year investment programme worth nearly £1.5 billion.

The Indian company will participate in the tender through its wholly owned subsidiary in the UK, Chesterfield Ductile Group Ltd, a manufacturer and stockist of DI pipes, fittings and accessories.

Areas of operation

Electrosteel Castings supplies either directly to the utilities, contractors or to other stockists and distributors engaged in the UK water and sewerage industry.

Yorkshire Water manages the collection, treatment and distribution of water, supplying around 1.24 billion litres of drinking water each day.

Electrosteel Castings is now preparing to participate in the new tender for a 10-year contract worth €20 million, likely to be awarded by March 2008.

A three-member high level team from Yorkshire Water, in the city last week, has just concluded a due diligence exercise of Electrosteel Castings, as part of a pre-qualification process for participation in the tender expected to be floated by December-end.

Bidding process

Mr Malcolm Sykes, senior member of the team, told Business Line that the contract would be awarded through a “transparent, competitive bidding process”. He said Yorkshire Water was essentially looking at three players around the world – Saint Gobain of France, Buderus of Germany and ECL of India. Pointing out that strict product quality and other criteria need to be maintained by the suppliers, Mr Sykes said the procurement was being done on the basis of strict European regulatory guidelines. There is no DI pipes manufacture in the UK now, as Saint Gobain, which earlier used to do so, has now restricted its manufacturing to home territory of France and Germany. This may be due to the strong presence of Electrosteel Castings in the UK, a view not contradicted by the company’s Managing Director, Mr Umang Kejriwal.

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