Tata Steel hits 52-week high on refinancing plan

NEW DELHI: Tata Steel Ltd rallied as much as 4.5 per cent in trade on Tuesday to hit its fresh 52-week high of Rs 439.45, on reports that the company is planning to raise $1.24 billion overseas through the sale of bonds by one of its Singapore entities.

This is part of a mega $7 billion debt refinancing initiative for Tata Steel Europe, formerly known as Corus, ET reported. This is among the largest such exercises by an Indian company and will also see it raise fresh loans to refinance existing term loans and revolving credit facilities, added the report.

At 10:20 a.m.; Tata Steel was trading 3.9 per cent higher at Rs 436.80. It hit a low of Rs 422.20 and a 52-week high of Rs 439.45 in trade today on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

It appears that senior company officials have already held preliminary discussions with a large group of Indian and international lenders from Europe, the US and Asia and has even proposed a detailed financing structure to them.

As per the ET report, the process is expected to gather momentum after the company announces its fourth-quarter numbers on Wednesday, said several people directly involved in the discussions on condition of anonymity as these are still in the private domain.