Liberty bid for Tata Steel UK |
Metals group Liberty House sparked new hope for Britain`s endangered steel industry on May 3 by announcing the first firm bid for Tata Steel UK, potentially saving thousands of jobs. Tata Group announced plans to sell its entire UK steel operation in March, leaving the government battling to save an industry that has been hurt by cheap Chinese imports, soaring costs and weak demand.Keen to avoid the loss of 10,000 jobs, the government has offered hundreds of millions of pounds in support to potential buyers and said it could take a 25 percent stake in the firm.Liberty`s Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta was the first businessman to express an interest in Tata`s loss-making assets which include the Port Talbot steel plant in Wales, and said it would submit a bid. Tata Steel told Reuters it expected to receive a bid from Liberty, which has done early due diligence on a deal, and that it had not received a bid from any other party.Liberty bought former Tata Steel plants in Scotland with government help in March. Scottish authorities had temporarily purchased two mills from Tata before selling them to Liberty. Britain`s government has also offered help in lowering the cost of energy for steel works and with workers` pensions to try to save the industry but says its efforts are not linked to the EU referendum on June 23.
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