Rivals are willing to join forces for Tata bid

MIDDAY today marks the deadline for bids to save the British steel industry and 15,000 jobs with rivals collaborating and latecomers joining the race to buy Tata Steel.

Indian- owned Tata announced its withdrawal from the UK in March and so far seven bidders have shown an interest in the lossmaking business.

Excalibur Steel and Liberty House, who are both in the running, are understood to have held talks and are expected to make separate offers declaring a willingness to work together.

Meanwhile US turnaround specialist Wilbur ross is thought to have made it onto the Tata shortlist at the eleventh hour. The 78year-old has a track record for rescuing failing companies across the steel, coal and telecommunications industries and staging leveraged buyouts.

other bidders include Endless, Greybull Capital, JSW Steel, Nucor, and Hebei Iron and Steel Group.

Tata is only considering offers for the whole of its UK steel business, and is not accepting bids from par- ties hoping to carve out the best assets.

Business secretary Sajid Javid will fly out to Mumbai, India, ahead of a meeting on Wednesday where the parent company will mull over the refined bids.

Tata will also publish its annual report the same day, which is expected to reveal the extent of the firm’s financial woes. Its 48-year-old UK boss Bimlendra Jha has blamed Tata’s withdrawal on structural weaknesses in the UK around energy costs and business rates, and said that if British energy prices were the same as in Germany, Tata would be £40m better off.

The Government has already offered hundreds of millions of pounds in support to potential buyers, including the option of taking a 25pc stake in the firm alongside other buyers.

Low prices and a glut of Chinese production has caused the steel industry as a whole to struggle with one in six jobs having been axed since last summer.