Tata Steel has no interest in Stelco

MUMBAI: Tata Steel, which acquired Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus to become the sixth largest steel maker in the world, today ruled out the possibility of acquiring Canadian steel firm Stelco.

"We have no interest in Stelco...and we are not looking at any acquisitions as of now,"said, a company official. The company simply could not buy anything on offer, he said.

"The company has no intention to buy Stelco and nor is it looking at any acquisitions as of now," he asserted in an e-mail response.

Tata Steel's expansion plans to raise its capacity beyond 40 million tonnes was on as it was setting up three greenfield steel plants in the country which would add 23 million tonnes capacity.

Besides, Tata Steel's Jamshedpur plant is being expanded from five million tonnes to 6.8 million tonnes.

After acquisition of Corus, Tata Steel's total capacity have now gone up to 25.6 million tonnes per annum.

Tata Steel's Stelco acquisition could have bridged the raw material deficit that the company was currently facing after the Corus acquisition.

Stelco has huge iron ore reserves. Following Corus acquisition, Tata Steel's raw material security came down to 20 per cent from 70 per cent.

Apart from brownfield and greenfield expansions, the company was always on an 'explorative' mood to snap up some acquisitions to increase its production capacity, Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman had said last month.

"We want to expand as many geographies to extend our reach. We always want to explore," Muthuraman had said when asked about the reports claiming that the company was on a look out for acquisition in Egypt.

Market sources said that after its big-ticket Corus acquisition, Tata Steel's debt-equity ratio was in the negative and it would continue to remain so in the next two years.