New Delhi: Denying that he is a gambler and the acquisition of Corus involved the game of rush and rule, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata on Friday said that the Corus bid never reached such a level, which may be termed as “overbid”.
“I am not a gambler,” said Ratan Tata, adding, “We had a limit that we all agreed to. We tacitly decided that we would walk away if that limit was reached. And we never reached it.”
In a keenly watched auction that stretched into the early hours of Wednesday, Tata Steel acquired the Anglo-Dutch Steel major Corus for $11.03 billion. The competitor CSN had pulled out of the race after a final offer of 603 pence a share.
Explaining the situation, the Tata Group supremo also said that he would have never put shareholders of Tata Steel at risk while bidding for Corus, despite paying a price higher than what was originally planned.
“I don’t consider that I have overbid for Corus. We have paid more that what we initially wanted to pay – that we offered in October. And that would have been the price at which we took Corus. Then we had a competitor who came in and between him and hedge funds the price of Corus went up. It never reached a level where we thought it would be a jeopardy to our shareholders to take it. And if we had reached such limit, we would not have taken,” said Tata.
Strongly denying that there was any ego involved to win the deal, Tata said, “Just about the fact that we went into the auction, meant that there was not a question of ego, because it could have easily been a situation where we would have lost and we would have walked away”.
He, however, admitted that the fall of share price of Tata Steel after acquiring Corus continues to bother him. “Yes, it did bother me and it bothers me even now because our share is been battered”.
On Wednesday, the shares fell by over 10 per cent on concerns that the deal was overpriced.
However he is hopeful that the situation will improve soon.
“But I believe that this is a short term and harsh view that has been. And as I said the other day, I hope that out in time we can look back and say we did the right thing,” said Tata.
Tata Steel shares on Friday gained Rs 5.20 or 1.14 per cent to close the day at Rs 462.95.
source : IBN
“I am not a gambler,” said Ratan Tata, adding, “We had a limit that we all agreed to. We tacitly decided that we would walk away if that limit was reached. And we never reached it.”
In a keenly watched auction that stretched into the early hours of Wednesday, Tata Steel acquired the Anglo-Dutch Steel major Corus for $11.03 billion. The competitor CSN had pulled out of the race after a final offer of 603 pence a share.
Explaining the situation, the Tata Group supremo also said that he would have never put shareholders of Tata Steel at risk while bidding for Corus, despite paying a price higher than what was originally planned.
“I don’t consider that I have overbid for Corus. We have paid more that what we initially wanted to pay – that we offered in October. And that would have been the price at which we took Corus. Then we had a competitor who came in and between him and hedge funds the price of Corus went up. It never reached a level where we thought it would be a jeopardy to our shareholders to take it. And if we had reached such limit, we would not have taken,” said Tata.
Strongly denying that there was any ego involved to win the deal, Tata said, “Just about the fact that we went into the auction, meant that there was not a question of ego, because it could have easily been a situation where we would have lost and we would have walked away”.
He, however, admitted that the fall of share price of Tata Steel after acquiring Corus continues to bother him. “Yes, it did bother me and it bothers me even now because our share is been battered”.
On Wednesday, the shares fell by over 10 per cent on concerns that the deal was overpriced.
However he is hopeful that the situation will improve soon.
“But I believe that this is a short term and harsh view that has been. And as I said the other day, I hope that out in time we can look back and say we did the right thing,” said Tata.
Tata Steel shares on Friday gained Rs 5.20 or 1.14 per cent to close the day at Rs 462.95.
source : IBN