Tata Steel confirms 7 interested buyers for UK assets

London: Tata Steel Europe today announced it has received seven expressions of interest to acquire the firm's UK ailing business. All seven have been "immediately taken forward" to the next stage of the sale process, which involves inputs from the UK government, the firm said in a statement.

Koushik Chatterjee, Group Executive Director (Finance and Corporate), Tata Steel Limited, said, "We are pleased with the response to the initial stage of the global sales process for Tata Steel's UK business. Today's announcement by Tata Steel Europe marks another important stage gate in this process. "The expressions of interest received have been through a robust initial assessment process with inputs received from the UK government whose views have been considered by the board.

"We believe that the bids being taken forward offer future prospects of sustainability for the UK business as a whole. The sales process will continue as announced earlier in an expedited and robust manner to deliver greater clarity for all key stakeholders such as employees, customers and suppliers, he said. "Whilst the sales process continues, Tata Steel's business in the UK under the new leadership team continues to focus on the business performance," he said.