“The steel unions will continue to hold both the Government and Tata Steel to account over the commitments made by the Prime Minister and his Government both in face-to-face meetings with steel workers and also Tata Steel committing to be a responsible seller”.
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A Plaid Cymru AM says Tata Steel’s plans to halt its sales process and instead explore a joint venture with European partners would be “like signing our own economic suicide note”.
He’s in India to discuss future trade links following the UK’s vote to leave the EU.
Earlier, the company had said that the turnaround plant was unaffordable as its major unit, Port Talbot was losing 1 million pounds every day. It also confirmed it would look to sell its speciality steels business, which is based in Yorkshire, and its pipe mills in Hartlepool.
Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director and Tata Steel’s Executive Director for Europe, said: “We have initiated conversations for a strategic collaboration for our European business”.
The company said it had contacted 190 potential investors around the world and seven potential investors were short-listed and invited to submit binding bids.
British Business Secretary Sajid Javid on Friday met Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry along with Tata Steel top brass on the issue of the company’s proposed sale of its steel assets in Britain.
According to analysts, Tata is less concerned about the speed of the sale due to rising steel prices and a raft of government incentives.
In March 2016, Tata Steel Ltd. said that it would explore all options for restructuring, including the partial or entire sale of the United Kingdom operations. Any joint venture will raise significant issues as to the future of the United Kingdom businesses but it also has the potential to be a positive development.
In Europe, Tata Steel’s operations consist of the Port Talbot plant in the United Kingdom and the Ijmuiden facility in the Netherlands.
“India and the United Kingdom already have a very strong trading and investment relationship, and we are looking at how we can build [it] further and I look forward to working with her”, Javid told reporters after his meeting with the commerce minister.
Tata steelworkers face “uncertainty” after it was announced Tata will opt to merge, not sell, their Welsh businesses. Subsequently, the company started seeking bidders for the United Kingdom assets it acquired through its 2007 purchase of Corus Group Plc. for $12.9 billion.
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Tata signaled that the government would have to make good on the offer.
