Tata Sponge Iron gets board approval for name change, to shift registered office to Bengal

Kolkata: Tata Sponge Iron, a 54.5 per cent subsidiary company of Tata Steel, said on Thursday that its board has approved shifting of the company's registered office from Odisha to West Bengal and changing its name to "Tata Steel Long Products Limited".

Incidentally, the company has made this move of shifting its registered office along with changing its name after it had completed acquisition of the steel business of Kolkata-based Usha Martin Ltd (UML) earlier this month with pending transfer some of the assets including mines and certain land parcels.

In a regulatory filing, Tata Sponge Iron said its board on Thursday "approved the shifting of the registered office of the company to West Bengal, subject to the approval of the members of the company and other regulatory authorities, as may be applicable and consequent amendment in the Registered Office clause of the Memorandum of Association".

The company's 36th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of its members is scheduled to take place on July 15 at Joda in Odisha's Keonjhar district.

The company, in the filing, also said its board approved the change in its name to "Tata Steel Long Products Limited" or such other name, as may be approved by the Registrar of Companies, subject to the approval of the members of the company and other regulatory authorities, as may be applicable and consequent amendment in name clause of Memorandum of Association.

Notably, Tata Sponge Iron completed the acquisition of the steel business of UML on April 9 with payment of cash consideration of Rs 3468.63 crore (after adjustments for negative working capital and hold backs, pending transfer of some assets including mines and certain land parcels).

UML's steel business includes one-million-tonne steel alloy manufacturing plant near Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, an operative iron ore mine, a coal mine under development and captive power plants.

Shifting of Tata Sponge Iron's registered office from Odisha to West Bengal would be a significant development for the Trinamool Congress-ruled state.

After Tata Global Beverages, Tata Metaliks and Tinplate Company of India (TCIL), it would be a new entrant of the list of Tata companies whose registered office would be in Bengal.

Tata Steel, in September last year, had executed definitive agreements with the Kolkata-based UML for the acquisition of the latter's steel business.

Tata Sponge Iron's net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31 stood at Rs 24.39 crore, down 47.76 per cent year-on-year and its revenue from operations, during the March quarter this fiscal grew 4.34 per cent year-on-year at Rs 254.07 crore.