Tata Steel Global Minerals Holdings Pte Ltd, the subsidiary of Tata Steel Ltd in Singapore, has hiked its stake from 19.9% to 27.4% in New Millennium Capital Corporation (NML), a publicly owned Canadian mining company engaged in exploration and development of iron ore properties.
The company has acquired 14,285,714 common shares of NML for C$1.40 (about $1.32) a share totaling C$20 million (about $18.87 million).
In October 2008, Tata Steel acquired 19.9% stake in NML for $22 million. The latest stake hike is subject to the approval of the Canadian stock exchange, said a company statement.
NML controls two iron ore range in the province of Newfoundland and Quebec, plans to utilise the funds for finalising outstanding direct shipping ore (DSO) agreements and environmental work.
H M Nerurkar, managing director, Tata Steel, said, in the statement, “With this strategic investment, we look forward to expanding the DSO project. Tata Steel views its investment in NML as being fully consistent with its proven business strategy.”
Robert Martin, president and CEO, NML, said, “The fund raising ensures that we have enough resources to conclude the last remaining tasks for DSO project and also increase the development efforts for our large taconite projects.”
Tata Steel currently has a capacity to produce over 28 million tonnes of crude steel per annum. It currently has operations across 26 countries, and commercial presence in over 50 countries globally. The company posted a turnover of $22.8 billion in FY 2010.
The shares of Tata Steel were traded at Rs 466.4, up by Rs 3.85 or 0.83% at 10.45 am in the Bombay Stock Exchange today. It earlier acquired stake in Australia's Riversdale Mining, which has coking coal projects in Mozambique in Africa.
