The international steel and minerals group Liberty House has announced that it has formally submitted the required letter of intent to Tata Steel Europe, the European unit of the India-based steel giant Tata Steel, containing its indicative bid for the entire issued share capital of Tata Steel UK. The letter states Liberty’s intention to bid for all of Tata Steel’s UK assets, excluding its Long Products division which is in the process of being sold separately and the Scottish plate assets that Liberty has already acquired from Tata.
Liberty stated that it believes the UK steel industry can achieve long-term viability if based on an agile, sustainable, non-cyclical model which integrates liquid steel-making from recycling with downstream production and the manufacture of advanced engineering products. In order to take the bid forward, Liberty has appointed an internal project team and a panel of leading external advisers, containing financial advisers led by international investment bankers and also international consulting companies, to work on this acquisition. In addition, specific support regarding electric arc furnaces will come from UK-based plantmaker Primetals Technologies.