Tata Steel signs definitive agreement with Liberty House Group
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- Feb 15,2017
Tata Steel UK has signed a sale agreement to sell its Speciality Steels business to Liberty House Group for £100 million.
The agreement embraces Tata's electric arc steelworks and bar mill at Rotherham, its steel purifying facility in Stocksbridge and a mill in Brinsworth as well as service centres in Bolton and Wednesbury, UK, and in Suzhou and Xi'an, China. Tata's speciality steels division directly employs around 1,700 people and makes steel for the aerospace, automotive and oil & gas industries.
Bimlendra Jha, CEO of Tata Steel UK, said the deal was good news for the Speciality Steels business and for Tata's core UK business. "For Speciality Steels, which is largely independent of our European strip products supply chain, this is an important step forward in securing a future for the business under new ownership," he said, adding that the sale marks an important step forward in realising a more sustainable future for Tata's Port Talbot-based supply chain in the UK.
"We will be handing over a business which has been transformed following difficult decisions to restructure and re-focus on higher-value markets," added Jha. "Employees, trade unions and the management team have worked incredibly hard at Speciality Steels to improve its performance and I’m delighted to say that the business is now on an improvement track which will enable it to thrive in the future," he said.
Tata Steel UK is currently consulting with its employees on a number of proposals that would structurally reduce risks and help secure a more sustainable future for its wider UK business. It is in discussions with the British Steel Pension Scheme trustee and the Pension Regulator to develop a structural solution for its UK pension scheme in the coming months.