OREANDA-NEWS. July 20, 2011. Maharashtra Elektrosmelt Ltd (MEL), the 99.12% subsidiary of Maharatna Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), has been merged with SAIL. The process of merger of MEL with SAIL was started in April 2006 and culminated with the receipt of the final order from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on June 14, 2011. The final order of amalgamation of MEL with SAIL has been filed with the Registrar of Companies at Delhi and Mumbai. It has been decided that all the public shareholders of MEL shall be allotted SAIL shares in a swap ratio of 1.7:1.

Located at Chandrapur in Maharashtra, MEL is a strategically important unit for SAIL as it meets the requirement of manganese-based ferro-alloys, a key input for iron & steel making. MEL presently has the capacity to produce about 1 lakh tonnes of manganese based ferro-alloys through the submerged arc furnace (SAF) route. The merger of MEL with SAIL is expected to align the development of MEL and related investments in line with the ferro-alloy requirements of SAIL.

SAIL has already made plans for the expansion of MEL. In this regard, SAIL Chairman Mr. C.S. Verma said: “Commensurate with SAIL’s further expansion plans, MEL’s expansion will be pursued for meeting the full requirement of ferro-alloys of the SAIL steel plants.” To cater to the additional requirement of ferro-alloys of SAIL plants in future, plans have been drawn up for installation of a third SAF with capacity to produce about 90,000 tonnes of ferro-manganese at an estimated cost of about Rs. 200 crore. The process of awarding of contract to the successful bidder is likely to be competed shortly. Addition of a 4 MW capacity power plant (steam turbine & generator) which will use byproduct gases from the proposed third furnace is also on the anvil at an estimated cost of Rs 36 crore.

SAIL is also exploring the possibility of setting up a captive power plant of suitable capacity through the joint venture route within the MEL plant area in order to produce cost-effective ferro-alloys. Investment for this project is expected to be around Rs. 1,200 crore.