Tata Steel to raise up to Rs 10K cr, may 'right-size' assets

Tata Steel will seek shareholders' nod to raise as much as Rs 10,000 crore through securities to meet capital requirements.

It also indicated that currency movements and cheap Chinese imports are impacting the operations of its UK arm and the firm may undertake more "asset right-sizing" measures in the near future.

On fund raising, Tata Steel said in its annual report that it seeks to continuously optimise its borrowings by ensuring they are aligned in terms of quantum, risk, maturity and cost with its earnings profile.

Financial markets are very dynamic in nature and it is hard to predict when and which market may provide window of opportunity to the firm to raise cost effective capital that has better terms and can help lengthen the maturity profile, it added.

"To allow the company the flexibility to tap into these pools opportunistically, the company is seeking approval from the shareholders...to issue Securities...not exceeding Rs 10,000 crore through Securities (convertible into equity or otherwise) in the international and domestic capital markets," it said.

Tata Steel's AGM is scheduled next month.

Tata Steel Chairman Cyrus Mistry in his address to the shareholders said the UK business of Tata Steel Europe is the most impacted by the surge of Chinese imports as its domestic demand continues to be weak.

"While management will take all actions to make the UK business more sustainable, continued challenges due to adverse currency movement of the Pound versus the US Dollar and the Euro as also the unrelenting Chinese imports into the UK may force the Company to undertake further asset right-sizing in the near future," he said in the annual report.

Tata Steel stock fell 0.11 per cent to settle at Rs 284 apiece at the BSE.