NMDC-SIIL merger likely by December

The country's largest iron ore producer NMDC expects the merger of Sponge Iron India (SIIL) with itself to take place by December this year against the earlier target of October.

The delay, it said, has been due to regulatory bottlenecks.

"I am hopeful that the merger will take place by the end of this year," NMDC Chairman Rana Som told PTI.

In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the mining major said, "...That the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) while hearing the petitions filed by the Company, has fixed the final hearing date for the 6th October, 2009."

The hearing is fixed to assuage concerns, if any, of the shareholders or any related party on the proposed merger.

The company had earlier hoped that the merger was likely to conclude by October. But, now it may overshoot the targeted period.

In June, the proposed merger received approval from the shareholders. The Steel Ministry had approved the proposal last year.

Post-merger, NMDC plans to invest about Rs 1,200 crore in the secondary steel maker SIIL. It plans to expand annual production capacity of SIIL and diversify it into making long steel products consumed primarily by the construction industry.

SIIL, which has an installed capacity to manufacture 60,000 tonnes of sponge iron per annum, has been facing acute raw material shortage for a couple of years.