Tata Steel completes sale of its Specialty Steels business

Tata Steel on Tuesday said that its has completed the sale of its Specialty Steels business to Liberty House Group for a total consideration of £100 million.

The sale involves South Yorkshire-based assets including the electric arc steelworks and bar mill at Rotherham, the steel purifying facility in Stocksbridge and a mill in Brinsworth as well as services centres in Bolton and Wednesbury, UK and in Suzhou and Xi'an, China.

Bimlendra Jha, CEO of Tata Steel UK said, “As a responsible owner, Tata Steel in the last couple of years has undertaken a transformation plan at Specialty Steels, including investing in a state-of-the-art vacuum induction melting furnance, to ensure business can have a sustainable future.”

Jha added, “We thank the employees, trade unions and management of Specialty Steels for their diligent hard work in the journey to turn around the business in difficult times and we wish them a successful future under new ownership.”

At present, Specialty Steels directly employs a total of 1,700 poeple making steels for the aerospace, automotive and the oil and gas industries. It contributed a turnover of £210 million along with net assets of £ 99.5 million in Tata Steel in FY17. 

Tata Steel has invested about £1.5 billion in its UK business since acquiring Corus in 2007.

Recently, Tata Steel UK has completed a consultation with its employees on proposals to structurally reduce risks in its wider UK business. Also, the company discussed with the British Steel Pension Scheme trustees and the Pension Regulator to develop a structural solution for its UK pension scheme in coming months.