Tata Steel has raised its stake in associate firm Tata Sponge Iron to 51 per cent following purchase of 11.26 per cent stake or 17.34 lakh shares through a voluntary open offer.

Tata Steel had launched a voluntary open offer on July 27 at a price of Rs 375 per share. The offer closed on August 9.

Tata Steel had 39.74 per cent stake before the start of the offer, the steel maker said in a filing to the BSE today.

On July 15, Tata Steel had said that total funds required for implementation of the offer (assuming full acceptance) would be Rs 65.02 crore.

Tata Steel had earlier said that it has no plans to merge Tata Sponge Iron with itself, at the moment. Tata Sponge Iron has manufacturing facility at Bilaipada in Odisha.

Total public shareholding in Tata Sponge Iron now stands at 45.50 per cent, down from 56.76 per cent before the commencement of the offer.

Tata Sponge Iron was initially set up as a joint venture company between Tata Steel and the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (IPICOL). However, in 1991, Tata Steel bought out IPICOL’s stake and made it an associate company.

Tata Sponge Iron’s total production capacity currently stands at 3.9 lakh tonnes per annum. It has 26 MW power generation capacity, which is sufficient to meet its energy need.

Shares of Tata Sponge Iron today closed at Rs 299.85 per share, down 1.66 per cent over the previous day’s closing.

comment COMMENT NOW