Tata Steel hikes stake in Australia's Riversdale Mining to 19.38 per cent

Tata Steel has acquired an additional 4.99 per cent stake in Australia's Riversdale Mining through its Singapore-based subsidiary Tata Steel Global Minerals Holdings, taking its stake to 19.38 per cent.

Riversdale mining is a joint venture partner of Tata Steel Global Minerals Holdings for a coal project in Mozambique, which  has been awarded a mining contract to explore and develop the Benga coal project by the Mozambique government in April this year.

Tata Steel Global Minerals made the additional acquisition through market purchases at approximately A$41 million (Rs143 crore) this week, raising its stake from 14.39 per cent.

By hiking its stake in the Sydney-based mining company, Tata Steel, the world's sixth-largest steel maker, has become the single-largest shareholder in the Riversale, in which private equity firms like Merrill Lynch, Passport Capital and the Talbot Group also have smaller stakes.

Riversdale represents Tata Steel's biggest overseas mining investment after it acquired a 19.9-per cent stake in Canadian miner New Millennium Capital Corporation for $22.6 million (Rs106 crore) in October 2008. (See: Tata Steel buys stake in Canadian miner for $22 million)

Tata Steel, which had acquired a 35-per cent stake in Riversdale Mining's coal project in Mozambique for Australian $100 million (about $85 million) as well as a 40-per cent share of the off-take for coking coal in 2007, (See: Tata Steel, Riversdale Mining signs JV pact for Mozambique coal project)