Chakravortty: Positive move

Calcutta, June 25: Tata Steel is buying out Ryerson Inc’s stake in their equal joint venture Tata Ryerson for $49 million, or Rs 240 crore.

The company, which was set up in 1997, has its headoffice in Calcutta and customises steel and other metal sheets and plates according to the needs of small customers.

It posted a turnover of Rs 1,300 crore, a profit of Rs 21 crore and processed 1.2 million tonnes of steel last year.

“It is a very positive development for the company. We will be able to grow the business much faster now with Tata Steel’s support,” Sandipan Chakravortty, managing director of Tata Ryerson, said.

The announcement was made by Tata Steel’s managing director B. Muthuraman today while announcing the annual results in Mumbai.

Sources said Ryerson was not keen on investing more money in the Indian venture. It had asked the company to plough back profit generated from existing business instead of investing anew.

Tata Steel offered to buy out the stake and Ryerson, now majority owned by fund house Platium, agreed to the proposal.

The transaction, subject to necessary clearances, is expected to be completed by July.

Chakravortty said Tata Ryerson planned to take advantage of the downturn-induced low construction costs to expand its capacity faster.

Power plant

Tata Power today signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Steel and Corus Steel for the construction of a 525MW combined heat and power plant at Corus’s IJmuiden works in the Netherlands.

Under the MoU, Tata Power and Tata Steel will set up a joint venture company to build, own and operate the plant. This plant will use most of the excess process gas produced at the steel plant and convert it into steam and power for the use of the steel plant.

This plant will enable Corus’s IJmuiden works to secure its long-term steam and power needs. The IJmuiden plant will be a green power project

As the plant will be based on process gases, it will be a low carbon emitting plant. The new plant will be ready in 2013 and will partly replace the existing power supply arrangement with another utility.