London : Two formal bids, including one by a team of former Tata Steel staff who have the backing of the Welsh government, have emerged to acquire the Indian steel gaint’s loss-making UK assets. While one was confirmed on tuesday by Indian-origin businessman Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty House group, the second is by a team of former Tata Steel staff, reports PTI.
Excalibur Steel UK Limited, the management buyout (MBO) team backed by Welsh technology billionaire Sir Terry Matthews, confirmed it has also submitted its letter of intent. “I can confirm that the Welsh Labour government is giving financial support to the MBO team to help them put their bid together,” Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones said. Excalibur is led by Stuart Wilkie, until recently managing director of Tata Steel UK, who believes he has come up with a sound turnaround plan for the operations. Excalibur chief executive Wilkie said: “It was only two weeks ago we made the decision to pursue a buyout. We believe we have a large number of the pieces in place required to make this a success, including a management team with vast experience of steel-making and processing. “We are confident we can turn the business around and sustain profitable steel-making in the United Kingdom.”
