Jindal Saw to invest Rs 2,650 cr in 2 yrs

Pipe maker Jindal Saw today said it would invest $600 million (about Rs 2,650 crore) over the next two years to expand its capacity and buy stakes in firms based in the Middle East, the US and the European Union.

"We will invest $600 million over the next two years for capacity expansion. This will also include acquisition of stakes in overseas firms," company Managing Director Sminu Jindal said.

Jindal said the company had already initiated talks with firms for buying stakes and signing of the deals may happen within a year.

"We will be interested in buying stakes in firms which produce ductile iron and seamless pipes. We have got enough capacity for large-dia pipe makings in India," she said.

Jindal said Jindal Saw would like to buy minority, but added that it might look at outright acquisition of firms, going forward.

Jindal, however, declined to give further details of the likely stake buying, but insisted that the overall investment of $600 million in the next two years would form a part of the proposed outlay in acquisition of stakes in firms abroad.

"$600 million will be the total investment. We are yet to finalise how much would go where," she said, adding that the company might raise some debt to fund the proposed fund infusion, but a majority would come from internal accruals.

Jindal Saw, which has seven manufacturing facilities in India, had clocked Rs 4,171 crore revenue last fiscal and it hopes the topline to remain "very much same as in the last fiscal" this fiscal. Around 60% of its revenue comes from exports.

It is currently sitting on an order-book in excess of $1 billion, Jindal said.