VISA Steel enters into join venture with SunCoke Energy for coke business

VISA Steel has formally entered into a joint venture with NYSE-listed SunCoke Energy Inc for coke business.

The new joint venture will be called VISA SunCoke Ltd.

VISA Steel will hold a 51% stake and SunCoke Energy the rest.

SunCoke Energy has invested approximately Rs 368 crore for picking up this 49% stake.

The joint venture is comprised of a 0.4 million tonne per annum heat recovery coke plant and associated steam generation units at Kalinganagar in Odisha.

The vice-chairman of Visa Steel and chairman of the newly formed JV, Vishal Agarwal, said VISA has got Rs 342 crore by selling stake in the company while Rs 25 crore was brought in the firm through a new issue.

According to him, it is planning to expand the coke capacity from 0.4 million tonne to 1.5 million tonne in five years.

"We are keeping all the options open for the expansion. This could be brownfield, greenfield or even acquisition," he added.

Commenting on procurement of coking coal, he said it is buying coking coal from BHP. Later on the group may look for coking coal mines.

Vishambhar Saran, chairman of VISA Steel, said, "We are pleased to finalize our partnership with SunCoke and it's a great opportunity for VISA SunCoke to leverage its operating and technological expertise to serve customers across India with the highest quality coke. The coke industry in India is a key market that offers attractive growth opportunities and we believe that VISA SunCoke is well-positioned to grow its coke business and become an industry leader."

The board of directors of the joint venture company will have equal representation from VISA Steel and SunCoke Energy.

The board met in Kolkata on March 18, 2013, and approved the nomination of Vishal Agarwal, Vikas Agarwal and P R Bose from VISA Steel and Michael J. Thomson, Nelson Garcez and Saurabh Pandey from SunCoke Energy on the board of the joint venture company. In addition, Vishal Agarwal was appointed as the chairman of joint venture company.


Keywords:VISA Steel , SunCoke Energy Inc , coke business, VISA SunCoke Ltd, coke capacity , coking coal, BHP, coal mines, technological expertise, customers , key market,joint venture company,Business news