Tatas plan to list more group companies abroad
By siliconindia staff writer   |   Thursday, 07 October 2004, 19:30 IST
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NEW YORK: Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said on Wednesday that the Indian conglomerate, which recently listed Tata Motors Ltd on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), plans to list more companies overseas. "More of our companies will be listed abroad," Tata told a Merrill Lynch conference in New York. "We have overcome our concern and apprehension that the Securities and Exchange Commission's compliance is a nightmare." Tata Sons Ltd is the holding company of the Tata Group, the major shareholder in several Indian blue-chip firms, and runs the country's largest hotel chain and software services exporter. Its units include India's second-largest steel maker, Tata Iron & Steel Co Ltd and Tata Motors. Tata Motors, which controls 60 per cent of the Indian vehicle market, listed its ADRs on the NYSE last month. The company plans to target developing countries with cars priced at $3,000 made at a cost of about $2,000, Tata said. The Tata Group chairman, who was in New York to address analysts and investors on opportunities to invest in India, added that the group may acquire companies as many of its businesses go global, but it will steer clear of any hostile bids. In August, Tata Iron & Steel Co bought most of Singapore's lone steel miller, NatSteel Ltd. Tata Motors plans to target Europe, South Africa and Southeast Asia with a mix of vehicles and Tata Group could be setting up a power plant, steel mill and fertilizer factory in Bangladesh by the end of this year. Tata dismissed speculation that the company wants to sell the watch business of Titan Industries Ltd, which was founded in 1987 by salt-to-software Tata empire. Tata Motors' ADRs fell nearly two per cent, or 19 cents, to close at $9.45 on the NYSE on Wednesday.

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