Deal with Greybull Capital will save more than 4,000 jobs
Tata Steel has agreed to sell its European structural steel business to investor Greybull Capital.
Greybull is to take on the whole of the Long Products business, including assets, relevant liabilities and securing an appropriate funding package in exchange for a nominal consideration.
The sale includes the Scunthorpe steelworks, two mills in Teesside, an engineering workshop in Workington, a design consultancy in York, along with a mill in northern France. The business employs 4,800 people – 4,400 in the UK and 400 in France.
The deal with Greybull, which has previously invested in charter airline Monarch and High Street retailer Comet, is expected to complete once a number of outstanding conditions have been resolved, including government approval, and follows a long negotiation process that began late last year after Tata Steel announced plans to mothball its UK Long Products business.
The news follows the appointment of advisers KPMG and Slaughter and May for the sale of Tata Steel UK following a strategic review. The two firms have previously been advising Tata Steel UK on selling subsidiary Longs Steel UK.
Bimlendra Jha, executive chairman of Tata’s Long Products Europe business, said: “Today marks a significant milestone in the sale of the Long Products Europe business.
“This sale is the best possible outcome for employees who have worked relentlessly to ensure the business’s survival, and helped to make it attractive to a potential buyer.”
Hans Fischer, chief executive of Tata Steel’s European operations, said: “Under these current challenging market conditions in Europe with the soaring levels of imports from China, we are happy that Tata Steel UK and Greybull Capital have entered the final stage of completion of the sale of shareholding in Longs Steel UK.
“This transaction will offer a future for the Long Products Europe business and its 4,400 employees in the UK.”
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