Tata Steel Limited

U.S. ratings agency S&P Global said that even if a leadership change and listing of Tata Sons, the holding company of India's Tata Group, go ahead, it will not immediately affect the ratings of the group's various companies. It said changes to financial policy are likely to proceed gradually. Within the Tata Group, the charitable trust Tata Trust and management are at odds over the reappointment of Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and a listing, and Tata Trust has proposed a restructuring plan that could allow the listing to be avoided. Prior to this, the Reserve Bank of India had rejected the company's application seeking to give up its status as a major non-bank financial company. S&P noted that the group companies it rates are run by independent professional management, while Tata Sons continues to have influence over the strategy of the group companies. S&P currently rates Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Power Renewable Energy and Tata Capital at BBB with a stable outlook. It has set Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles at BBB with a negative outlook, and Jaguar Land Rover at BBB minus with a negative outlook. S&P said that if Tata Sons lists in the usual manner, the impact on its creditworthiness would be neutral in the short term. Over the longer term, a listing would raise the shareholding ratio of general shareholders, which could increase scrutiny of capital allocation, shareholder returns and support for group companies with weaker business foundations, and as a result could affect its assessment of intra-group support.

Indian shares extended gains on Thursday as crude oil prices fell to their lowest levels since before the Iran conflict, easing inflation and growth worries. The benchmark BSE Sensex rose 540 points, or 0.7 percent, to 77,529 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index added 153 points, or 0.6 percent, to 24,175. Top gainers included Trent, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, SBI, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki India and Indigo, which rose between 1 and 3 percent. Tata Steel edged up slightly after infusing Rs 1,625 crore into its wholly owned subsidiary T Steel Holding Pte, and Embassy Developments soared nearly 5 percent after announcing a Rs 1,500 crore investment in premium real estate projects in the Lucknow corridor. IRFC fell about 1 percent as the government decided to sell an additional 1 percent stake in the ongoing Offer for Sale, while Raymond dropped 1 percent after denying reports of an imminent buyout of German aerospace components firm Deharde.