EUROPE: Tata Steel announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the potential sale of its Long Products Europe business to chemicals, metals and oil commodities business Klesch Group on October 14.
Both parties have now entered a period of exclusive detailed due diligence with the objective of completing the transaction in the first half of 2015, ‘though no assurance can be given about the outcome’, said Karl-Ulrich Köhler, CEO of Tata Steel’s European operations.
About 6 500 people are employed by Long Products Europe, producing and distributing rail, sections, wire rods, special profiles and plates for the railway, earth-moving, energy and construction sectors. Its assets include Scunthorpe steelworks in the UK and the Hayange mill in France which produce rail, as well as a UK rail consultancy business based in York.
Köhler said Tata had ‘decided to concentrate our resources mainly on our strip products activities, where we have greater cross-European production and technological synergies.’
Tata Steel Long Products Europe
Scunthorpe integrated steelworks, UK
Hayange rail mill, France
Rail consultancy, York, UK
Immingham bulk terminal, UK
Teesside beam mill, Lackenby, UK
Special profiles, Skinningrove and Darlington, UK
Dalzell plate mill, UK
Clydebridge, UK
Engineering workshop, Workington, UK
Distribution sites in the UK, Ireland and Germany
