Tisco may join race for Nalco
Plans to look at areas beyond steel
The country’s largest private sector steel company Tata Steel is considering the possibility of participating in the privatisation of state-owned aluminium giant Nalco. According to top level Tata officials, the Jamshedpur-based steel is internally discussing the option of submitting an expression of interest for Nalco. The group is of the view that buying out Nalco could be the best possible way of entering the aluminium industry. They, however, said that no final decision has been made.
The move to bid for Nalco could also be seen as part of Tata Steel’s plans to look at areas beyond steel to hedge against the cyclical nature of the metal. In fact, by ‘07, the company expects to enter at least one major new business that would be comparable to the core business.
Infact, in his ‘Vision for 2007’ statement, Tata Steel managing director B Muthuraman had said that by ‘07, Tata Steel expects to enter into at least one major new business that would be comparable in size to the core business. “We also expect to continuously evaluate and expand the new business to complement the cyclical nature of the steel business,” he had said.
