Tatas sell 51% Tata Refractories stake

“… the company has completed the transaction and received the relevant consideration for the transfer of 51 per cent equity shares of TRL out of its current stake of 77.46 per cent stake in TRL to Krosaki Harima Corporation of Japan at an equity valuation of Rs 1,130 crore,” Tata Steel said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Earlier,on April 21,the leading steel maker had announced that it had entered into definite agreement with the Japanese firm for the deal.

Tata Steel would continue to hold 26.46 per cent stake in the TRL — the largest domestic refractories manufacturer.

Tata Steel Managing Director Hemant Nerurkar had last month said that the partnership will propel the business to greater heights in future.

Bringing in KHC as strategic partner will bring technical expertise into the Tata Refractories and would give it access to new markets.

Krosaki Harima Corp is a leading global refractories maker and its 42.9 per cent equity is owned by Nippon Steel.

The company,listed on the stock exchanges at Tokyo and Fukuoka,had a sales of 82,874 million Japanese yen as on March 31,2010.

On the other hand,Tata Refractories is the largest refractories manufacturer in India and meets the requirement of industries like steel,glass,cement,non-ferrous and petro-chemicals.

Its refractories works at Belpahar,Orissa,is considered to be the largest among all single refractory producing units in the world.

According to industry estimates,TRL has an annual production capacity of 3.4 lakh tonnes. The company also has a manufacturing unit in China.

Scrips of Tata Steel closed at Rs 589.10 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange today,up 1.51 per cent from the previous close.