it has started discussions with Sweden’s SSAB for a potential acquisition of its business in Netherlands, including Ijmuiden steelworks,. However, the Stockholm-based steel company withdrew its interest earlier this year, claiming that “there were limited possibilities to integrate IJmuiden into the framework of SSAB’s strategies”.
Therefore, after two failed attempts, Tata Steel has now decided to drop the plans to sell its European business and is determined to focus on the performance of the business instead. Responding to a question regarding the company’s strategy with respect to its operations in Europe, Tata Steel’s chief executive and Managing Director T V Narendran noted that the company is under no pressure to take any hasty action. “We are not actively looking for any buyers,” he told PTI. “If you make the business stronger, that helps with the value of the business.”
In terms of the steelmaker’s operations in Europe, they are separated into two, as Tata Steel UK and Tata Steel Netherlands. In the second quarter of this year, the two subsidiaries increased their steel deliveries by 17.4 per cent from a year earlier, to 2.33 million tons. Moreover, the company outlaid a capital expenditure of ₹30 billion for its European operations as the company expects this year to be cash positive in terms of EBIDTA and profit after tax.
“For (financial year) 2022, we have guided that our capex will be… ₹3,000 crore for Europe. It is more for sustenance capex, environment related capex, capex on the product mix, enhancement that we are doing particularly in the Netherlands,” Narendran noted.
