History of Jindal Iron and Steel Co. Ltd.
YEAR EVENTS 1972 - The Comp. was originally incorporated as Piramal Steel Ltd. [PSLs] on 2nd June. The main objectives of Comp. is to manufacture Casting of steel scarp into ingots, slabs, blooms, billets, etc.
- 1,20,000 No. of equity shares subscribed for by promoters, directors, etc. 7,000 Pref. & 1,68,000 No. of equity shares offered at par to the public in April 1973.
1983 - The name of Comp. was changed from Piramal Steel, Ltd., to Jindal Iron & Steel Comp. Limited vide fresh Certificate of Incorporation dated 12th April.
- 5,60,000 Rights Equity shares issued at par in propn. 2:1.
1984 - Meanwhile, the continuous casting machine had arrived & was undergoing modifications. The Comp. had also ordered a large induction furnace to double the steel making capacity to 36,000 tonnes per year.
- The Comp. also reviewed & deferred the rolling mill project conceived by previous management & the rolling mill equipment already procured was disposed of. The Government of India had turned down the company proposal to instal induction furnace. Hence the Comp. was forced to go in for arc furnace route as desired by Government & the project reports were under preparation.
1985 - 8,40,000 Rights equity shares issued at par in prop. 1:1.
1988 - Overall recession in stainless steel market coupled with high cost of inputs restricted the production of stainless steel to bare minimum level.
- 7,000 Pref. shares redeemed on 26.6.1988. 6,950 - 9.5% Pref. shares allotted on 28.9.1988. These Pref. shares redeemable no later than 10 years from 28.9.1988.
1989 - The Comp. undertook to enhance the steel melting capacity to 1,50,000 TPA through installation of 35 tonnes Ultra High Power Electric Arc furnace & modernisation of slab casting machine & other equipments.
1991 - The plants operated at full capacity & registered considerable improvement in operational efficiency.
- 2,000 - 11% Pref. & 13,02,118 No. of equity shares allotted without payment in cash to members of NAL on its merger. Another 1,15,125 No. of equity shares also allotted without payment in cash.
1992 - The Comp. offered 38,73,109-12.5% partly convertible debentures of Rs. 110 each on rights basis to the shareholders in the proportion of 5 debentures: 4 equity shares held. Additional 80,966 debentures were allotted to retain oversubscription.
- Another 1,93,655-12.5% partly convertible debentures were offered to the employees of Comp. on an equitable basis. Additional 8,045 debentures were allotted to retain oversubscription.
- Part A of Rs. 50 of each debenture will be converted into one equity share of Rs. 10 each at a premium of Rs. 40 per share on the expiry of 6 months from the date of allotment. Accordingly, a total 46,55,775 No. of equity shares were allotted.
- The Comp. revalued its plant & machinery as on 31st March, & the surplus of Rs. 78,01,651 arising out of this was credited to revaluation reserve.
1993 - The Comp. embarked on setting up of an integrated steel plant having a capacity of 1.25 million tpa of steel at Bellary, Hospet, Vijayanagar, in Karnataka. As per the promoters agreement with KSIIDC, the Comp. is to undertake its said project in a newly promoted Comp. 'Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd.
- During April, the Comp. issued 129,30,000 - Zero Interest second fully convertible debentures of Rs. 60 each on Rights basis in proportion 1:1.
- Each debentures would be converted into 1 equity share of Rs. 10 each at a premium of Rs. 50 per share after 1 year from the date of allotment of debenture.
- 172,42,080 - Zero interest fully convertible debentures of Rs. 100 each were issued through the prospectus as follows on firm allotment basis:
- [is] 5,00,000 debentures to UTI,
- [iis] 10,00,000 debentures to Financial Institution,
- [iiis] 27,00,000 debentures to NRIs on repatriation basis,
- [ivs] 15,00,000 debentures to shareholders of Group Companies,
- [vs] 5,00,000 debentures to Indian Mutual Funds. Balance 105,42,080 debentures were issued to public.
- Each debenture was to be converted into 1 equity share of Rs. 10 each at a premium of Rs. 90 per share after 12 months from date of allotment.
1994 - During the year, the Comp. proposed to further expand its capacities to remove bottlenecks to become fully integrated steelmarker, hot & cold roller & galvaniser.
- The existing cold rolling unit of 20,000 tonnes at Narsapur was shifted to Tarapur & its capacity was to be expanded to 50,000 tonnes by June.
- During November, the Comp. issued 98,70,000 - 10.5% secured redeemable non-convertible debentures of Rs. 500 each with detachable warrants on Rights basis in proportion 23 debentures: 100 equity shares held. [all were taken ups].
- The warrant entitles the holder to apply for 1 equity share of Rs. 10 each at a premium of Rs. 190 per share at any time before 60 months from the date of allotment of debentures.
- Part B of Rs. 60 of each debenture was to be redeemed at par in three equal annual instalments on the expiry of 6th, 7th & 8th year respectively from the date of allotment.
- 299,87,080 No. of equity shares of Rs. 10 each allotted as a consequent to the conversion of zero interest Secured Fully convertible debentures on 12th July.
1995 - The overall margins on total sales declined due to increased cost of imported raw materials coupled with the price collapse in the Internatioanl market.
- The Comp. proposed to sell the Aluminium unit, since the unit has no synergy with the mild steel business operations & constitutes a small portion of overall business of company.
- During the year, the Comp. proposed to acquire the cold rolling unit of 150,000 TPA capacity of Jindal Strips Ltd.
- 11% Redeemable Cumulative Pref. has been redeemed on 30th Sept.
1996 - The Comp. undertook balance capacity enhancement of 1.5 lakh tonnes per annum. The Comp. also undertook modernisation projects essentially involving technological upgradation of manufacturing facilities with the objective of achieving cost effectiveness & product quality improvement at par with the international standards.
- The Comp. incorporated a joint venture Comp. viz. `BJS Steel Products Pvt. Ltd.' with British Steel Plc. U.K.
- Subject to necessary approvals being obtained from the High Court of Mumbai, it was proposed to merge Navin Alloys limited [NALs] with the company.
- The amalgamation was expected to result in a forward integration making the amalgamated Comp. an integrated steel plant with in-house facilities for melting, slap casting & hot rolling.
- In keeping with the strategy to grow exponentially, the Comp. proposed to forward integrate the operations through amalgamation of two of its group companies namely Nalwa International, limited & Nasrapur Metals, Ltd.
1997 - The Jindal Iron & Steel Comp. Ltd [Jiscos] & the British Steel are joining hands to float a 50:50 joint venture company, JBS Steel Products limited The joint venture will have a capacity to manufacture 1 lakh tonne of colour coated steel products and also set up steel service centres in India.
- Jisco is the first major Comp. to earmark funds for buy-back of shares although several managements have acquired powers for buy-back as soon as the law to do so is in place.
- Jindal Iron and Steel Comp. Ltd [Jiscos] & Lloyds Steel are hiking the prices of their flat steel products. Jisco hike comes into effect on July 11.
- Jisco has taken up a forward integration project to manufacture organic coated steel products in financial collaboration with British Steel Plc.
1998 - The Comp. is setting up a three lakh tonne per annum galvanised steel unit.
- The A+ rating assigned to the nonconvertible debenture [NCDs] issues of Jindal Iron & Steel Ltd [Jiscos] aggregating Rs.503.7 crore has been put on rating watch with developing implications by Credit Rating Information Services of India Ltd [Crisils].
- The Comp. is setting up a service centre in one of European countries to cater to the customers.
1999 - The Jindal group has set up overseas projects in Texas, US, through acquisition of Saw pipes & plates manufacturing facilities of US Steel.
- Jisco holds 9,09,69,100 equity shares of face value Rs 10 each, amounting to Rs 97 crore & 3,57,50,000 equity shares of JVSL acquired from Jindal Strips Ltd [JSLs] amounting to Rs 35.75 crore.
- Debenture programme of Jindal Iron & Steel Comp. [Jiscos] from `bbb+' to speculative grade `bb' which denotes 'inadequate safety'.
- The Comp. has entered into an agreement with Steel Authority of India [SAILs] for procurement of slab.
- British Steel of UK has put on hold its investment in a proposed joint venture Comp. -- JBS Steel Products Pvt Ltd -- in association with Jindal Iron and Steel Co [Jiscos].
- Jindal Iron & Steel Comp. Ltd [Jiscos] has been awarded the Niryat Shree bronze trophy by Federation of Indian Export Organisations [FIEOs].
2000 - Jindal has introduced a range of security doors with features such as fully secure lock-up [16 rodss] that prevents forced opening by drilling/prying.
- ICRA has downgraded Jindal Iron & Steel Comp. limited to `LAA-' from `LAA+'.
- The Sajjan Jindal group flagship Jindal Iron and Steel Co will increase its holding in Jindal Vijaynagar Steel from 8 per cent to 16.8 per cent through conversion of debt into equity.
- ICRA has downgraded the rating of debentures of Jindal Iron and Steel Comp. in the wake of downgrading of credit rating of its guarantor IFCI Ltd.
- The Comp. launched a B2B portal for steel, christened steelmart.com.
- Jindal Iron and Steel Comp. has acquired the 50 per cent equity stake held by British Steel Benelux in JBS Steel Products Ltd, a joint venture Comp. of British Steel Plc, UK & JISCO.
2002
-Jindal Iron &Steel appoints Mr.Sajjan Jindal as the Chairman & the Managing Director of the company.
-Jindal NCD programme is being downgraded to LBB [structured Obligations] from LA-[OSs] by ICRA.
2003
-Unit Trust of India approves Jisco debt restructuring.
-Jindal Iron & Steel makes a strong recovery on buying support from institutions.
-Approve in principle the restructuring envisaging consolidation of its steel business with that of Jindal Vijaynagar Steel Ltd.
-Appointment of ICICI Securities Ltd and M/s RSM and Co as consultant, in this regard.
-Appointment of M/s Deloitte Haskins and Sells & ICICI Securities Ltd, as valuers, in this regard.
2004
-Jindal Iron and Steel Co. limited has informed that UTI Asset Management Comp. Private Limited [Formerly Unit Trust of Indias] vide its letter dated December 09, 2003 appointed Mr. S Jambunathan as its nominee in place of Mrs. Lilly Prasad & at the Board Meeting held on January 20, 2004, the Board noted & approved the same.
