Tata sale of UK steel business delayed

TATA Steel has delayed its sale process to offload its beleaguered UK arm which includes two factories in the Black Country.

The reported that the firm had pushed back the timetable for making a final decision on the future of its UK steel operations until next month.

It comes as the company continues to haggle over more government concessions to persuade it to retain the business, the FT said.

Tata Steel announced in March that it wanted to sell its loss-making UK arm which includes a bright bar factory in Wednesbury and a coated narrow strip plant in Walsall.

Collectively, they employ around 800 people.

Tata Steel also operates the UK’s largest steel plant in Port Talbot, South Wales, where it has 4,000 staff.

The company previously said its UK operations had been hit by the collapse in the price of steel products coupled with high energy costs and climate change policies. It was due to unveil a shortlist this week and its preferred bidder later this month but now this is set to roll into July.

Among the candidates vying to buy Tata Steel UK are a management team called Excalibur Steel UK and Liberty House, the commodities trading firm which acquired parts of steel group Caparo last year.

A Tata Steel spokesman said: “Tata Steel is committed to running a thorough and urgent sale process for its UK business.

“That remains the case today. Negotiations about various aspects of the sales process continue with interested parties.”