JSW Steel is among those who have bid for Tata Steel's British operations. In a statement, the company said it was evaluating UK steel assets but did not name any specific target. "As part of the company's growth strategy, the company evaluates several opportunities including the current opportunity of UK steel facilities. It is premature to add anything further at this stage."
Tata Steel has, meanwhile, said that seven expressions of interest for its British assets had advanced to the next stage of a sale process it began last month. While it has not named its bidders, Liberty House owned by businessman Sanjeev Gupta, and a management buyout team called Excalibur, have confirmed submitting their expressions of interest.
JSW Group had a gross debt of around £4 billion as of April, and is one of India's most indebted conglomerates. Infrastructure bankers back home are not too jovial with the debt, and think the company is just testing waters with the Tata bid. One strong deal-breaker is the big pension liabilities of the Port Talbot steel mill in Wales. They said a bargain deal might help JSW turn around Tata's money-losing UK business given their record of making steel efficiently and profitably in India.
