LONDON – Having evinced interest in acquiring certain assets of Tata Steel UK, Indo-British businessman Sanjeev Gupta on Tuesday met UK’s business secretary Sajid Javid and said he is waiting for Tatas to start the “sales process”.
The development comes amidst Javid’s scheduled meeting with Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry on Wednesday for an update on the sales process of Tata Steel’s UK operations.
“I am pleased to report that we had a positive meeting today. UK government appears highly supportive and is proactively engaged in finding a long-term solution. We have also actively engaged with Welsh Government and again we are encouraged by their approach,” Gupta said in a statement.
He further said: “The next step is for TATA to define the formal sales process and request indications of interest from potential buyers. We await further details on this and then will assess our own next step.”
Liberty House has already proven its ability to build value from UK steel assets with its acquisition of the Newport Steel plant, Midlands engineering operations and most recently in Scotland where it acquired mills from Tata, he added.
“Everyone is very motivated to find a solution,” Gupta said.
Meanwhile, the UK government in a statement said: “The meeting with Tata in Mumbai follows constructive meetings in London with trade unions, the EEF and UK Steel this week.”
Earlier today Prime Minister David Cameron, Javid and minister for the cabinet office Oliver Letwin met with Welsh Government first minister Carwyn Jones to discuss the situation at the Port Talbot plant, it added.
The Liberty House Group, founded by Gupta, has interests in a wide range of strategic assets in Asia, Africa and the United Kingdom.
The Group on its website claims an annual turnover of close to USD 5 billion, covering steel, raw materials and non-ferrous metals. It employs over 2000 people globally.
Its total production capacity in steel exceeds 3 million tonnes per annum.
