Indian Seamless, ISSA merge to form ISMT

Indian Seamless Metal Tubes (ISMT) today announced its merger with Indian Seamless Steel and Alloys (ISSA) to create a Rs 1,000 crore company, making it the largest of its kind in the Asia Pacific.

The new entity would be called ISMT, a company release said today.

The Mumbai High Court has ordered to convene a meeting of shareholders of the two companies on August 1, 2005 for approval of the merger, the release said.

The merger proposal provides for offering five equity shares in ISSAL for every four held in ISMT.

"ISMT, the new company, would offer a range of precision seamless tubes to high-end suppliers of auto, bearing and other engineering OEMs. The volume growth of the company will be largely driven by exports which have grown at the rate of 40% per annum over the last three years," the release added.

"While the 1,55,000 TPA tube capacity of the company is planned to be increased to 2,00,000 TPA and its existing steel capacity would be raised to 3,50,000 TPA," the company said.