London : Metals major Liberty House, founded by India-born industrialist Sanjiv Kumar Gupta, confirmed on Monday that it will formally bid for the UK assets of Tata Steel, which are on the block after Tatas suffered nearly $3 billion in losses thus far.
“We can confirm that Liberty will submit a letter of intent to Tata Steel on Tuesday and has put in place a strong internal transaction team and panel of leading external advisers to take the bid forward,” a Liberty House spokesman was quoted as saying in the Financial Times.
Liberty Group has revenues approaching $5 billion, covering steel, raw materials and non-ferrous metals, while employing more than 2,000 people globally. It also produces about five million tonnes per annum of steel and steel products.
In March, Tata Steel UK announced an accord to sell its Clydebridge and Dalzell steel units in Scotland. The deal involved the sale of the two plants to the government of Scotland, which was to, in turn, sell them to Liberty House.
Deloitte and Grant Thornton are among other firms involved which, among other issues, will advise Liberty House on dealing with the nearly 500 million pound funding deficit in Tata’s pensions scheme, considered the biggest stumbling block in clinching the sale.
Other bidders for the remaining Tata Steel UK assets include Albion Steel, a UK start-up business with industry veteran Tony Pedder on the board.
The Tata Group had acquired its UK steel operations as part of a 6.7 billion pounds acquisition from Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus in 2009. The UK government has indicated that it is willing to take a stake of no more than 25 per cent to help secure a deal.
