Indian conglomerate Tata signed a letter of intent to start exclusive talks to sell its Yorkshire-based speciality steel business to Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty Group for £100m. The agreement comes as good news to workers at the plants in Rotherham, Stocksbridge and Brinsworth, who produce steels used in the automotive, aerospace and oil and gas sectors.
Tata put its UK steel business up for sale after a combination of high energy costs, global overcapacity, and China dumping subsidised steel on the market brought the industry down. It later "paused" the sale, saying it was exploring a tie-up with European rival ThyssenKrupp and looking at selling off only selected assets. Bimlendra Jha, chief executive of Tata Steel UK said, "The speciality steels business is independent of the pan-European strip products supply chain and this announcement is in line with the overall restructuring of the UK portfolio. This is an important step forward in seeking a future for speciality steels. We now look forward to working with Liberty on due diligence and other work streams so that the sale can be successfully completed."
Gupta said, "We recognise the world-class skills of the speciality steels workforce and are eager to join with them to develop the business and increase market share, both domestically and internationally." This is just the latest in a string of acquisitions by Liberty, as it looks to expand its industrials portfolio. The company has bought a string of struggling steel sites across the UK, including two Lanarkshire steel mills from Tata Steel. The speciality steels business employs 1,700 people and produces materials for the aerospace, automotive and oil and gas industries.
JLR to create thousands of jobs
Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover has announced an ambitious investment plan which could potentially lead to thousands of jobs in the country, as part of its bid to double output by 2020. JLR chief executive Ralf Speth confirmed the decision which would include a big spike in the production of electric vehicles in Britain. "We have a greater ambition. Why should we challenge ourselves to build more than a million cars. If we double the volume of our cars we can double the workforce. We can only do this in partnership," Speth said at a automotive sector meet at Warwick University. He also indicated that the company was keen to bring the research and development and production of electric car batteries to Coventry and Warwickshire in the region
