The Indian company interested in buying the Shadeed Iron & Steel (Shadeed) plant in Oman is the Jindal Group, a source tells MEED.

Industry speculation had been rife that Jindal was the rival bidder to the UAE’s Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) for the $750m facility owned by Abu Dhabi’s Al-Ghaith Holding (AGH) despite an official from the company denying it was interested when contacted by MEED.

“Jindal are supposed to be completing due diligence by the end of this week [9 April] and then have until 21 April to submit an offer,” the source says.

“AGH then have until 7 May to accept the offer and the money will then be paid and ownership will change hands,” he adds.

Emirates Steel Industries (ESI), a subsidiary of the state-owned Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation (Adbic), is believed to have been in talks with AGH for some time and has made a firm offer for the $750m plant.

The value of the bids is unknown but the source says that the two rival offers “are not significantly different”.

Shadeed is a 1.5 million tonnes-a-year (t/y) steel plant located at Sohar Industrial Port in the Batinah region of the sultanate.

Commissioning has now started at the plant and the first phase is due to be completed shortly, with full start-up expected for the third quarter of 2010.

The Shadeed plant is split into three phases and will have a capacity of 4 million t/y when completed. Future plans for the site include a seamless tube mill to manufacture seamless tubes, sections and bars for Middle East market.