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TISCO eyes listing on London or New York
TISCO said it was considering listing its shares in New York or London, and flagged price rises for all its products.
India's second-biggest steel maker, Tata Iron and Steel Co Ltd (TISCO), said on Thursday it was considering listing its shares in New York or London, and flagged price rises for all its products thanks to strong demand.
TISCO's shares rose two per cent to a life-time high of Rs 414.55 in late afternoon trade, outperforming a 0.21 per cent fall on the main Bombay index.
"It's important, because as a global player it's good to be listed in London or New York. That's something which we are thinking about," TISCO managing director B Muthuraman told Reuters in an interview.
Muthuraman ruled out a listing in Singapore, where the company bought the steel operations of NatSteel Ltd for S$486.4 million ($286 million) last year in its first major international foray. Muthuraman was in Singapore to wrap up the acquisition.
India's oldest steel maker, the flagship company of the country's number two industrial conglomerate, the Tata group, is eyeing more acquisitions in overseas markets to help quadruple capacity to 15 million tonne by 2010.
Muthuraman said he did not know when a decision on the listing would be made.
Deputy managing director at TISCO's steel business T Mukherjee said the company would raise steel prices for its long-term customers from April 1 as it had cut prices last year and international steel prices were firmer.
"Prices will increase, for all our products," he said.
In August, TISCO cut prices for all its customers by Rs 2,000 ($46) per tonne and had pledged not to raise prices for direct customers, who account for 85 per cent of its sales, until March 2005.
Mukherjee said the extent of the price increases was being negotiated with customers.
"There are companies like Toyota and Hyundai. They know what international prices are. So they are not surprised that we will increase prices," he said.
Japan's Toyota Motor Corp and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co have vehicle-making plants in India.
TISCO has global depositary receipts listed in Luxembourg.
Tata group company Tata Motors Ltd listed in New York last year, with the conversion of its Global Depository Receipts to American Depository Receipts.
Muthuraman said a feasibility study for a proposed joint venture in India with Australia's largest steelmaker BlueScope Steel Ltd would be ready in three months.
The project, which will provide solutions for construction, would require investment of about Rs 7 billion, he said.
