Tata Steel raises Rs 4,000 cr via non-core asset sale

Tata Steel has raised more than Rs 4,100 crore through the sale of non-core assets so far this fiscal as part of efforts to strengthen its balance sheet and generate cash. The Mumbai-based firm said last week it sold 1.33 percent stake in group company Tata Motors to institutional investors for Rs 1,250.69 crore. It also sold a similar stake in Tata Motors to promoter group Tata Sons for Rs 1,249.99 crore as part of portfolio restructuring. This is over and above the Rs 1,000 crore that it raised in the April-June quarter through equity liquidation and Rs 637.46 crore in August by selling stake in group firm Titan – a move aimed at monetising its non-core and listed assets. In all, Tata Steel has raised around Rs 4,138.01 crore since April. During the announcement of first quarter results of the 2015-16 fiscal, the company said, “Tata Steel continues its strategy of monetising non-core assets and has raised about Rs 1,000 crore during the quarter by selling a part of its equity portfolio.” The firm on August 11, 2015 sold 2.18 percent of its stake in Titan Company to Tata Sons through a market sale for a net consideration of Rs 637.46 crore. In an investor call the same month, Tata Steel’s Group Executive Director (Finance and Corporate) Koushik Chatterjee said the company in the last 5-6 years had raised around Rs 15,000 crore through the monetisation of strategic, non-core and listed assets. In its 2014-15 annual report, Tata Steel said, “As a step towards improving its capital structure, the company strives to maximise the use of internal accruals and to monetise its non-core assets regularly to fund capital expenditure.” It further said, “The company continues to pursue its strategy of monetising non-core assets.”