Ratan Tata, the pilot who piloted the Tata Group’s overseas push

Tetley: 2000

In 2000, Tata Tea took a giant leap to acquire the British tea brand Tetley, marking the Tata Group’s first international acquisition. The Group paid £271 million or nearly $432 million to acquire the world’s second-largest brand of tea.  It was a bold move by Tata Tea to purchase a company several times larger than its size. This acquisition came after a previous attempt in 1995, which could not fructify as the Tata Group faced challenges to secure funds for the purchase.

Daewoo: 2004

Tata Motors acquired Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company (DWCV) at Gunsan in the Republic of South Korea in 2004. DWCV was Korea’s second-largest heavy truck manufacturer, with a market share of 26 per cent in the segment. The deal, which was the Tata Group’s significant stride towards globalisation, was valued at South Korean Won (KRW) 120.642 billion (approximately $ 102 million or Rs 465 crore).

Corus Group: 2007

In 2006, Tata Steel received board approval to acquire Corus Group Plc, Europe’s second-largest steel producer with a combined presence in 45 countries, at a price of 455 pence in cash for each share valuing Corus at GBP 4.3 billion. When Brazilian firm Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) entered the fray with a higher offer to acquire the British steelmaker, Tata Steel raised its price. Offers from Tata Steel and CSN kept on getting revised in subsequent rounds of bidding, as both companies were desperate to acquire Corus.

In the final bidding round, Tata Steel outbid CSN by offering a price of 608 pence – 5 pence higher than the offer by CSN of 603 pence. In April 2007, Tata Steel completed £6.2 billion ($12 billion) acquisition of Corus Group.

At that time, Tata Steel Chairman, Ratan Tata, had called the acquisition of Corus as a major step forward in the company’s global strategy.

However, the acquisition of Corus drove the Tatas into troubled waters after the slowdown in the Eurozone and China in 2008. This was further worsened by the dumping of cheap steel by China in global markets.

In 2017, J J Irani, former Managing Director of Tata Steel, termed the acquisition of Corus as a ‘mistake’, according to a PTI report. “Acquisition of Corus was a mistake. Not an intentional one but an aspirational mistake,” Irani had said.

Jaguar Land Rover: 2008

In June 2008, Tata Motors bought the Jaguar Land Rover businesses from Ford Motor Company for a net consideration of $2.3 billion in an all‑cash transaction. Tata motors turned JLR from a loss- making company into a profit-making entity. In the quarter ended June 2024, JLR’s revenue grew by 5.4 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to £7.3 billion. It was the highest Q1 revenue on record for JLR.

Brunner Mond Group: 2005

Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL), through its subsidiary, acquired 63.5-per cent stake in the UK-based Brunner Mond Group UK (BM), for a total consideration of about Rs 508 crore in December 2005. This acquisition made TCL one of the most diversified companies with manufacturing facilities in three continents and markets across the world. It propelled the company to become one of the leading soda ash producers in the world.