Tata Steel Ltd, the country’s largest producer, is looking for a buyer for its South African unit after agreeing to sell its Teesside operations in the UK.
“There have been some talks,” Managing Director H M Nerurkar said today in New Delhi, without giving details. “Some people are interested.”
Tata Steel KZN Pte, set up in Richards Bay, South Africa in 2006, turned to a profit of Rs 43 crore ($9.2 million) in the year ended March 31 from a Rs 180 crore loss the previous year. Sales gained to Rs 522 crore, or about 0.5 per cent of Tata Steel’s global revenue, from Rs 231 crore.
Sahaviriya Steel Industries Pcl, Thailand’s biggest maker of hot-rolled steel, plans to buy the Teesside Cast Products unit for about $500 million, Tata Steel said on August 27. UK unit Corus said in February it lost about £150 million ($233 million) running the Teesside plant in northeast England after four buyers, accounting for about 80 per cent of Teesside’s business, reneged last year on a 10-year contract.
Shares of Tata Steel rose as much as 1.5 per cent to Rs 584.55 and traded at Rs 579.50 as of 2.14 pm in Mumbai today. The benchmark Sensitive Index rose 0.4 per cent.
