Tata Steel’s European works council on Friday said it expected the separation of Tata Steel’s Dutch and British operations to continue, despite Swedish steelmaker SSAB’s decision to halt talks over the potential acquisition of Tata’s Dutch steel mill.
In a regulatory filing, Tata Steel confirmed that SSAB has withdrawn its initial interest in Tata Steel Netherland business.
It further said, “The company is committed to arriving at a strategic resolution for its European portfolio. TataSteel’s IJmuiden plant is among the most environmentally efficient and cost-competitive steel producers in Europe.”
“Currently, around two third of the business of Tata Steel is based in India with best in class, highly cost competitive assets and strong cash flows and Tata Steel remains committed to undertake significant de-leveraging in FY21 and beyond,” it further said.
“It is unclear how we will proceed, but we expect the separation to continue,” works council chair Cinta Groos told news agency Reuters.
Groos said she did not expect takeover talks with ThyssenKrupp to be revived, after the European Commission blocked a merger between Tata’s European activities and the German company in 2019.
“We have carefully evaluated Tata Steel IJmuiden and have concluded that an acquisition would be difficult for technical reasons. We cannot be sufficiently certain that we could implement our industrial plan with the preferred technical solutions as quickly as we would wish. We cannot align Tata Steel Ijmuiden with our sustainability strategy in the way desired,” said Martin Lindqvist, President and CEO at SSAB.
