Posted on 22 Aug 2024
AMNS India is open to exploring acquisition opportunities, says the company’s ceo Dilip Oommen according to local media reports. AMNS India is a joint venture between global steel major, ArcelorMittal and Japanese steelmaker, Nippon Steel.
"For sure we will be looking at [it], if there are any good opportunities coming our way, we are definitely interested and we will study it," AMNS India’s ceo Dilip Oommen is quoted as saying to Economic Times. But, Oommen emphasised it needs to be viable.
The company will look at various factors such as logistics infrastructure, connectivity to raw materials, logistics for the transportation of raw materials and clear land titles while analysing the viability of potential acquisitions, Kallanish notes.
The comment came amid reports that AMNS India has been in talks to acquire steel mining major Vedanta Resources’ Electro Steel (ESL) plant. However, negotiations were reportedly stalled amid valuations and land use expansion-related hurdles.
JSW Steel and several private equity groups were also reportedly interested in bidding for ESL (see Kallanish passim).
In April, Vedanta’s executive director Arun Mishra said the divestment of the ESL plant was under consideration. “Buyers are ready and we expect the regulatory clearances to be over between Q1 and Q2 of this year,” Mishra noted (see Kallanish passim). Vedanta’s ESL aims to increase its capacity to 3.5 million tonnes/year from its current capacity of 1.5m t/y.
AMNS India has a capacity of 9m t/y at present, and aims to increase this to 15m t/year by early 2026 in Phase 1A at its Hazira plant in Gujarat (see Kallanish passim). Oommen said AMNS India aims to increase its flats market share to 20%. It currently has 10% market share.
Separately, AMNS India recently launched its patented colour-coated steel product “Optigal." It will initially be manufactured in its Pune plant, in Maharashtra. It will later also be manufactured at other units.
India’s coated steel consumption is currently around 3.2m t/y, but demand is expected to increase by 8-10% each year on average, AMNS India’s the director for sales and marketing Ranjan Dhar told Economic Times.
The rise is expected to be driven by demand across construction, appliance manufacturers and white goods sectors. Coated steel products account for about 20-25% of the total value-added products ecosystem. The company’s current colour coated products capacity stands at 700,000 tonne/year in India, Dhar said.
Source:Kallanish
