Engineering news
Liberty House has come forward as a potential buyer for Tata Steel’s two mothballed plants in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
According to various media reports the metals group has confirmed its interest in acquiring the Dalzell and Clydebridge works, where a total of 270 jobs are being lost.
Greybull Capital had previously been linked to the two plants as a potential new commercial operator.
Liberty House told PE that it is aware of the reports but is not currently in a position to comment further.
Following the reports the Scottish government’s steel taskforce is met to discuss the future of the plants.
Business minister Fergus Ewing said: “The Task Force welcomed the interest of Liberty Group and agreed it was a positive step in our objective to keep the Dalzell and Clydebridge plants open. While nothing is yet agreed, there is a degree of optimism at the current situation.
“Time is of the essence and the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise can offer support to any new commercial operator wishing to restart operations, with action being taken forward on energy costs, business rates, procurement and on environmental issues.
“All members of the Task Force will continue to do everything possible to secure a sustainable future for Scottish steel.”
A spokesperson for the steelworkers' union Community said: "As we have said all along, we welcome any interest from credible investors who want to create a sustainable future for the Dalzell and Clydebridge mills.
"This reinforces our strongly held view that the skills of the workforce and the assets at the plants can be competitive and these businesses can have a successful future with the right long-term investment. Clearly, there is a long way to go from an expression of interest to rebuilding the workforce and restarting production.
"This is why all stakeholders - particularly Tata Steel and the Scottish Government - need to work together and remain focused on doing all they can to preserve the assets and retain skills, so that another investor can secure jobs and bring back production as soon as practically possible. To achieve this there needs to be open dialogue and full consultation with Community as the representative of Scottish steelworkers."
A spokesperson from UK Steel added: "A future for steel sites in Scotland is obviously positive news, however we still see the very real prospect that steel jobs and steel production will be significantly reduced in the UK without urgent and decisive ministerial action.
"The Government needs to take action to bring business rates for capital intensive firms in line with their competitors in France and Germany, provide direct financial help including loans to further improve productivity and take decisive action to halt the dumping of Chinese steel on the European market to ensure steel-making continues to thrive in the UK.”
Tata announced 1,200 UK job losses in October 2015.