Leader ofTata buyout bid leaves the company
The man who led a workermanagement buyout bid for Tata Steel’s UK business is leaving the company.
Before he joined the Excalibur bid last spring Stuart Wilkie was managing director of Tata’s Strip Products business and played a key role in devising the recovery plan which helped to save Port Talbot steel works.
But now Tata has confirmed that Mr Wilkie is departing the company after the leave of absence he was granted to develop the Excalibur bid has come to an end.
A spokesman for Tata Steel said: “Stuart Wilkie and two other senior managers were given a leave of absence by Tata Steel to develop a potential management buyout bid last year.
“That leave of absence has now come to an end and all three have chosen to pursue opportunities outside Tata Steel.
“We respect their decision and would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks for their collective service and wish them every success in their future careers.
“Jon Ferriman, who has been covering the role of director for our Strip Products UK hub on an interim basis, has now been appointed to this position on an ongoing basis.”
The recovery plan that Mr Wilkie helped develop is a key factor behind the improving performance of the business, which is part of the background to the agreement reached between Tata and the unions on a long-term jobs and investment strategy for Port Talbot and other plants.
Rising global steel prices and the falling pound have also played a part in improving the prospects for steel in the UK.
In May last year Mr Wilkie said Excalibur was seeking to reward the “hard work” of employees by offering them an ownership stake if they were successful in acquiring the business.
He said the plan was to see employees being offered the chance to take an stake in a management employee buyout model – potentially at around 10%.
Speaking at Excalibur’s headquarters at the Wesley Clover Innovation Centre in Newport nine months ago, he said: “Assets wise, in the main, we have been looking at [efficiencies] for many years and I don’t think there is a lot more to go.
“Our bid is all about maintaining primary steel making at two blast furnaces at Port Talbot. We believe that is the model we should be operating.
“The business we are proposing going forward in terms of the Port Talbot operation is right-sized we believe for the next five years.”
Last week Tata steelworkers voted to accept reforms to their pensions in a move that will safeguard thousands of jobs in the Welsh steel industry for the next five years.
The three unions representing more than 8,000 steel workers across the UK voted by a majority of three to one to back the proposals put by Tata.