Tata, JSW and Essar Steel in fray to acquire Shree Precoated

Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Essar Steel and Uttam Galva Steels are bidding to acquire a majority stake in Ajmera Group’s Shree Precoated Steel.

“Three primary steel makers — Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Essar Steel — and a prominent secondary steel maker, Uttam Galva Steels, have evinced interest to acquire the majority stake in Shree Precoated Steel and have submitted their respective bids,” a source close to the development said.

All the four interested parties in the fray have done due diligence and the valuation offered by them ranges between Rs 700 and Rs 800 crore, he said.

When contacted, JSW Group Joint Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer M V S Seshagiri Rao said that the company was “not at all” interested in acquiring Shree Precoated Steel.

An Essar Steel spokesperson declined to comment and a Tata Steel spokesperson said that he had no idea on the issue.

The Ajmera Group has been mulling to sell off its majority stake in Shree Precoated Steel for two years now but it did not materialise owing to differences in valuation with the interested parties.     

The company has interests in both realty and steel. It was demerged as Ajmera Realty and Infra India. Post-demerger, the realty division got listed and the steel division is in the process.

“The management, however, has already filed the requisite papers for listing of the steel division,” the source said.

Shree Precoated Steel, the largest manufacturer and exporter of colour coated steels having backward integration of galvanised and cold-rolled steels under one roof, makes 1.8 lakh tonnes galvanised steel per annum and one lakh tonnes colour coated steel.

The company has a global technological collaboration with Thysen Krupp Steel, Europe’s second largest producer of coated steel products.