The Government has pledged support for the business, taking a stake of up to 25% to smooth the sale process.
Advertisement
It is understood that if they do submit more detailed bids, as expected today, they will do so separately – while both referencing a potential willingness to work together if taken forward to the next stage by Tata. There was also press speculation that up to two of the seven companies may back out.
The sale includes the huge Port Talbot plant and 15,000 jobs across the UK.
Excalibur, which is led by a Tata UK executive, plans to offer support for Liberty’s bid, while Liberty is set to outline its desire to work with the group, the BBC understands. The Indian steel giant – which employs 15,000 people directly in the United Kingdom, while another 25,000 are dependent on related supply chains – blames weak demand, high manufacturing costs and cheap Chinese imports for its troubles. The deal covers facilities across England, a mill in northeast France and various distribution channels.
Mumbai: Excalibur Steel, a management buyout group interested in purchasing Tata Steel’s British steelmaking operations, is considering joining forces with rival bidder Liberty House, the Sunday Times newspaper reported. It did not name the bidders.
Turnaround specialist Greybull Capital bought Tata’s Scunthorpe-based long products division for a nominal fee of just £1 in April.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that United States billionaire investor Wilbur Ross has also made it onto the shortlist after submitting a late offer.
United Kingdom business secretary Sajid Javid is set to fly to Mumbai ahead of the sale and has offered to pump in hundreds of millions pounds of loans and take a 25% stake to prevent the steelworks from collapsing.
Advertisement
The Indian steel giant will announce on Wednesday its earnings for the financial year ended in March 2016.
