India-based steelmaker JSW Steel has commented on media reports which have suggested that the steelmaker will acquire another Indian-based steel producer, Welspun Maxsteel, for INR 11 billion ($185 million), in order to obtain cheaper raw materials and cut production costs.
In response to these news reports, JSW Steel said in a statement, "We don't offer any comments on market rumors and speculation; however, as a long term strategy, we would like to expand both organically by means of brownfield and greenfield expansions and inorganically by acquiring some existing assets. In that perspective, we keep scanning suitable opportunities which have a strategic fit."
Welspun Maxsteel, now a part of Welspun Group, was initially established in 1989 with a designed capacity of 750,000 mt of sponge iron in the form of hot briquetted iron (HBI).