THE owner of Scunthorpe’s crisis-hit steelworks Tata Steel Europe has entered into exclusive talks with Greybull Capital to sell part of its operations.
The negotiations for its long products division, which includes around 3,000 workers in Scunthorpe but not a further 1,200 who are based at the town’s steel plate mill nor another 500 in Glasgow. A design consultancy in York is part of the other assets under discussion following the signing of a letter of intent between the parties.
Greybull emerged as the leading contender yesterday after weeks of talks that also saw Leeds private equity house Endless named as one of the other interested parties.
“This is an extremely critical time for the whole industry, and we have been working hard to explore all options that could provide a future for the Long Products Europe business,” said Karl Koehler, Chief Executive of Tata Steel’s European operations.
“We will now move into detailed negotiations with Greybull Capital. It is too early to give any certainty about the potential outcome of these discussions.”
Bimlendra Jha, executive chairman of the Long Products Europe business, added that “much work remains to be done to reach a successful outcome”.
Greybull is the investment fund which backed the purchase of 130 M Local convenience stores from Morrisons, that rebranded as My Local, and is also known for its rescue of airline Monarch.
