Tata Steel increases share in Corus acquisition

Tata Steel Ltd has announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on July 30, 2007, has approved the increased contribution of the Company / Tata Steel Asia Ltd in the acquisition of Corus Group Ltd, UK.

In this regard the Company has issued the following press release:

"As announced earlier, Tata Steel, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tata Steel Asia Holdings Pte Ltd has completed the acquisition of Corus Group Limited of U.K. at a total cost of about US$ 13 billion. At the Board Meeting of the Company held on July 30, 2007, it was decided to increase the contribution from Tata Steel / Tata Steel Asia Holdings Pte Ltd. from U.S. $ 6.7 billion to about U.S $ 7.4 billion. This increase will essentially be covered by increasing the amount of the Rights Issue of 2% Convertible Preference Shares (announced earlier) from Rs 4,350 crores upto about Rs 6,000 crores; the other detailed terms of this issue will be finalized closer to the time of the issue. The Rights Issue of Equity Shares will remain the same i.e. in the ratio of 1:5 at a price of Rs 300 per share.

Apart from the funds raised through equity capital in the last 12 months and the proposed Rights Issue of Equity Shares and Convertible Preference Shares and long-term debt already raised by the Company, the balance of the funds required would be raised through appropriately structured issues in the foreign markets within the amounts approved by the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held on July 05, 2006 and the approval sought at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled on August 29, 2007. The overall objective of the financing package would be to raise the required resources in the most cost-effective manner for Tata Steel / Tata Steel Asia Holdings Pte Ltd. and well within the ability of the Tata Steel Group to service the total investment."