Tata Strikes Deal to Divest U.K. Specialty Steel Business
02/10/2017 - Tata Steel has reached an agreement to sell its U.K. specialty steel business to metals entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta and his Liberty House Group for 100 million pounds, Tata has announced.
Word of the deal comes more than two months after Tata executives disclosed that they and Liberty House signed a letter of intent to sell the business, which includes an electric arc furnace steel works, a bar mill and service centers in the U.K. and China.
"This is good news for Specialty Steels and for Tata Steel's core business in the U.K. For Specialty Steels, which is largely independent of our European strip products supply chain, this is an important step forward in securing a future for the business under new ownership," Bimlendra Jha, Tata Steel U.K's chief executive said in a statement.
The (London) Telegraph reported that acquisition makes Liberty one of the U.K.'s largest steel industry employers.
It also said the deal follows Liberty's strategy of acquiring distressed assets as the means to grow its manufacturing portfolio. Indeed, Liberty has bought a Scottish aluminum smelting plant from Rio Tinto, the paper said, as well as other plants. Notably, Liberty previously acquired two affiliated plate mills from Tata and has restarted a shuttered rolling mill.
"This is good news for Specialty Steels and for Tata Steel's core business in the U.K. For Specialty Steels, which is largely independent of our European strip products supply chain, this is an important step forward in securing a future for the business under new ownership," Bimlendra Jha, Tata Steel U.K's chief executive said in a statement.
The (London) Telegraph reported that acquisition makes Liberty one of the U.K.'s largest steel industry employers.
It also said the deal follows Liberty's strategy of acquiring distressed assets as the means to grow its manufacturing portfolio. Indeed, Liberty has bought a Scottish aluminum smelting plant from Rio Tinto, the paper said, as well as other plants. Notably, Liberty previously acquired two affiliated plate mills from Tata and has restarted a shuttered rolling mill.
