A billionaire Wall Street investor is to be courted about a deal to rescue Tata Steel’s UK operations as ministers embark on a desperate attempt to preserve the future of steel making in Britain.
Sky News understands that Wilbur Ross, who earned the nickname ‘King of Bankruptcy’ after salvaging a string of distressed coal, financial services and steel companies, is among a pack of possible buyers who are likely to be contacted in the coming days.
Mr Ross, who chairs his own investment firm, WL Ross & Co, merged his International Steel Group with Mittal Steel in 2004.
He continues to sit on the board of ArcelorMittal, Europe’s biggest steel maker, as a non-executive director, and has been involved in a string of deals involving British companies, including the purchase of a stake in Virgin Money which helped it finance its purchase of Northern Rock from the Government in 2011.
His appetite for participating in a rescue deal for Tata Steel’s UK business, including its biggest site at Port Talbot in Wales, was unclear this weekend.
Mr Ross could not be reached for comment.
The approach to him will come as ministers embark on a race against time to find a way of salvaging Tata Steel’s UK business.
The Government is drawing up plans for a long-term financing package to entice potential buyers, but the situation has acquired extreme urgency with the Indian company potentially deciding the fate of its 15,000-strong British workforce as soon as this month.
Any buyer, such as Mr Ross, would also need to be persuaded that they are shielded from the liabilities attached to the old British Steel pension scheme, which are likely to be transferred to the Pension Protection Fund, a state lifeboat.
It was unclear this weekend whether Mr Ross would be sounded out by Tata Steel or directly by the Government, both of which are in the process of appointing advisers to help with the search for prospective new owners.
There has been speculation that the company is interested in a merger of its continental European assets with Thyssenkrupp, the German group, but this would require the disposal or closure of its UK operations.
In recent weeks Tata Steel has off-loaded two sites in Scotland to Liberty House, a privately owned company.
Liberty House’s founder, Sanjeev Gupta, told The Sunday Telegraph that he was interested in “a proper partnership” with the Government, but said he had not made a proposal to acquire the entirety of Tata Steel’s UK business.
Sky News disclosed on Saturday that a separate deal for Tata Steel to offload its Scunthorpe steelworks to Greybull Capital, an investment firm, may take place without the support of a loan from UK taxpayers.
Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary who has been criticised for being in Australia when Tata announced its intention to sell its British steel business, said on Sunday that temporary public ownership remained an option for the rest of the Tata Steel assets.
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