Indian steel producer Tata Steel has sold its 100pc stake in its southeast Asian steel business NatSteel Holdings for an equity value of $172mn to reduce its debt.

Tata's indirect subsidiary TS Global Holdings Singapore sold NatSteel to Singapore-based steel and iron ore trading company TopTip Holding. But Tata has retained the Siam Industrial wires business of NatSteel in Thailand as part of its downstream wires portfolio.

NatSteel's saleable steel production and sales were 730,000t and 900,000t respectively in the 2021 fiscal year, down by 24pc and 25pc respectively from a year earlier, as a result of Covid-19 led lockdowns and a slow return of the construction industry because of a shortage of migrant workers.

Tata failed to sell a 70pc stake in Natsteel to China's state-controlled Hesteel in 2019.

Source : Argus