Jan 14 (Reuters) – Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel said on Wednesday it would return A$438 million ($292.54 million) to its shareholders through a special dividend of A$1 per share, funded by surplus cash from its recent asset sales.
The surplus cash includes funds from the stake sale in its joint venture with India’s Tata Steel, an agreement to sell 33 hectares of land at West Dapto for A$76 million, and from the ongoing residual projects in its properties group, which is expected to deliver about A$200 million in working capital over fiscal 2025 and 2026.
BlueScope, which manufactures steel products for the construction and infrastructure sectors, said it had opted to return capital via dividend because an on-market share buyback was not possible given the current corporate scenario.
Australia’s largest steelmaker last week rejected a $9 billion takeover offer from a consortium comprising Australian conglomerate SGH and U.S.-based Steel Dynamics, accusing the bidders of trying to buy it “on the cheap”.
Its rejection was also backed by BlueScope’s largest investor, AustralianSuper, which said the offer had undervalued the company. The pension fund holds 13.52% of BlueScope.
The company added on Wednesday that free cash generation was set to ramp up over the next 12-18 months with BlueScope expecting a reduction in capital expenditure of at least A$500 million in fiscal 2027 compared with fiscal 2026.
The special dividend would be paid on February 24, it said in its statement.
($1 = 1.4972 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee; Editing by Alan Barona)
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