JSW Steel, the flagship firm of the $11 billion JSW Group, on Tuesday confirmed its interest in buying out Tata Steel UK assets, for which expression of interest from seven buyers have been taken forward to the next stage of the sale process.
Confirming JSW Steel’s interest in buying out Tata Steel UK assets, a company spokesperson said, “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 any further at this stage.”
On reports of JSW Steel’s interest in bidding for Tata Steel’s UK business, the shares of the Mumbai-based firm tanked 2.9 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange to close at Rs 1,288.2, valuing the company at Rs 31,138.6 crore.
The board of Tata Steel Europe on Monday announced that seven expressions of interest submitted for Tata Steel’s UK business have been taken forward to the next stage of the sale process.
Confirming the interest from seven parties, Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director (Finance and Corporate) of Tata Steel Limited, on Monday said: “We have been pleased with the response to the initial stage of the global sales process for Tata Steel’s UK business. Today’s announcement by Tata Steel Europe marks another important stage in this process. The expressions of interest received have been through a robust initial assessment process with inputs received from the UK government whose views have been considered by the board. We believe that the bids being taken forward offer future prospects of sustainability for the UK business as a whole.” The sale process, he said, will continue as announced earlier in an ‘expedited and robust manner’ to deliver greater clarity for all key stakeholders such as employees, customers and suppliers.
In the next phase of the sales process, the progressing interested parties will be given access to further business information and management team presentations in order for them to rapidly progress their interest to a binding stage.
It could not be independently ascertained whether JSW Steel is among the seven firms that has made it to the next phase of the sale process for signing a binding MoU.
Tata Steel Europe is still clarifying outstanding points with a number of other parties who have submitted an expression of interest. “Whilst the sales process continues, Tata Steel’s business in the UK under the new leadership team continues to focus on the business performance,” Chatterjee had said on Monday.
