Tata Iron & Steel's takeover of Singapore's NatSteel was awarded The Asset Triple A Best Deal, Singapore for 2005. The award was presented to Oo Soon Hee, president and CEO of NatSteel Asia Pte Ltd at The Asset's annual dinner held on Thursday, January 19, 2006 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.

The acquisition of the deal gives India's steel major access to the key Asia- Pacific markets, including China in yet another indication of the growing ties building up between India and the rest of the region.

In recognizing the importance of this deal, the board of editors of The Assets also noted that the takeover represented the growing importance of the leading corporates in India in playing a bigger role and building out from their domestic base. Tata Iron & Steel is India's largest steel company in the private sector. It is also among the lowest steel producers in the world. With this deal, Tata can now have access to seven new markets NatSteel operates in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Australia and Malaysia.

The deal was announced in December 2004 and was closed in February 2005. Tata Iron & Steel increases total annual throughput by an additional two million tones. Standard Chartered Bank was the financial adviser to the deal.

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