Chinese steelmaker, Jingye has expressed an interest in taking over Tata Steel’s UK operations, said a leading UK-based television channel on Saturday.
Sky News has learnt that Jingye Group told Tata’s parent company and the government that it is keen to explore a takeover of Britain’s largest steel producer.
“Banking sources said this weekend that Jingye’s interest was at a tentative stage, and insisted that there was not a formal sale process for Tata Steel UK’s operations,” said the report by SkyNews.
Jingye Group took control of British Steel after it was placed in compulsory liquidation, with debts of £880 million in May 2019.
Earlier in September, the same news agency reported that the British government had planned to rope in investment bankers to come up with a rescue plan for Tata Steel.
The Indian parent had earlier indicated that the company will be unable to fund the losses in the UK operations.
During the recent Tata Steel annual general meeting, the company’s chairman, N Chandrasekaran assured shareholders that the company is “in discussion” with the UK government to find a “sustainable, structural solution,”.
The company had also sought roughly £900m of cash from the British government in exchange for an equity stake of up to 50% in its UK business.
“In UK we are still in talks with the government and we will do what is good for the company,” Chandrasekaran had told shareholders during the recent AGM.
Tata Steel, reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 4,609 crore for the June quarter, mainly due to its loss-making Europe operations. Tata Steel Europe’s consolidated earnings before interest, tax and depreciation reported a loss of Rs 625 crore.
Source: Economic Times