India’s JSPL completes divestment of Oman unit

India’s leading steel and energy conglomerate, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL), has completed the divestment of its entire stake in Oman-based subsidiary Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel LLC.

Announcing the completion of the second tranche of the sale of its stake in Jindal Shadeed, JSPL in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) said the remaining 51 per cent stake in Jindal Shadeed has been sold to Vulcan Steel, a Mauritius-based subsidiary of Templar Investment Limited.

Earlier in September 2020, JSPL had announced the completion of the first tranche of the sale of stake in the Omani subsidiary. JSPL’s Mauritius-based wholly-owned subsidiary Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius) Limited in September sold 49 per cent stake in Jindal Shadeed to Vulcan Steel.

‘We now wish to inform that Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius) Limited has sold the balance shareholding held by it, representing 51 per cent of the share capital of Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel, to Vulcan Steel in the second and final tranche, in accordance with the shareholders approval,’ JSPL said in its disclosure to the Indian bourse on Friday.

JSPL first in July last year had informed that Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius) Limited accepted a binding offer from Templar Investment Limited, a promoter group entity, to divest its entire stake (by way of sale of shares) in Jindal Shadeed.

Indian newspapers earlier reported that the enterprise value of the deal (both tranches) was over US$1bn and the divestment of Oman assets is in line with JSPL’s vision and commitment to bring down its debt and deleverage its balance sheet.

Jindal Shadeed, located strategically in the port city of Sohar, is set over a 120-hectare prime property, just 60m from the shoreline and adjacent to the busy Muscat-Dubai highway. Jindal Shadeed was founded after JSPL had bought Shadeed Iron and Steel in 2010 from Abu-Dhabi’s Al Ghaith Holdings for about US$500mn.

The company’s major facilities in Sohar include: A direct reduced iron (DRI) plant with a capacity of 1.5mn tonnes per annum, a steel melt shop plant consisting state-of-the-art steel making facilities, and the rolling mill with a capacity of 1.4mn tonnes per annum.

Additionally, Jindal Shadeed has a 600m long captive jetty adjacent to the plant with two un-loaders and one mobile harbour crane to handle import and export activities.

Vulcan Steel, a Mauritius-based private limited company and subsidiary of Templar Investment Limited, now owns 100 per cent share capital in Sohar-based Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel