TATA STEEL UK EMPLOYEES TO BID FOR WELSH BUSINESS

LONDON: Stuart Wilkie, MD of Tata Steel’s strip products, is reportedly putting together a management buyout package that includes significant contribution from workers at Port Talbot works in Wales and the British government.

No details of the package were available, but reports from Wales said the community trade union welcomed discussions with Wilkie to buy the strips steel business, which employs 5,000 people.

“Tata Steel Europe welcomes credible expressions of interest for Tata Steel’s UK operations. It is our policy that we are not naming, confirming or commenting on any potentially interested investor, or bidder, at this point,” the Tata Group company said in a statement. “All expressions of interest, including any management buyout proposal, will be considered when received. In the interests of all stakeholders, every credible expressions of interest will enter the same rigorous assessment process to ensure the best value and prospects of sustainability”.

The Tata board recently decided to sell its assets in Britain after losses mounted to £1 million a day. The firm’s steel business in the UK is based around the Port Talbot works.

Wilkie had submitted a rescue plan for Port Talbot to the Tata board a month ago, but it did not get the green signal since it required an order of investment that the board was unwilling to commit to, besides questions about the plan’s success.

Welsh Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said the management buyout plan is the “right way to go”, but industry circles cautioned that a post-Tata Steel scenario would need an overhaul in basics, including not retaining the blast furnaces.