Industrial and commodities group Liberty House has emerged as the front runner to buy the speciality steel and pipe mill put on block recently by Tata Steel.

The deal to acquire the units based in Rotherham, Stocksbridge and Hartlepool could come as early as this week, according to foreign media reports.

Liberty is understood to have secured financial backing of Macquarie Group, an Australia-based investment bank, it said. The deal could save about 2,000 jobs.

Liberty House is understood to have placed £100 million for both the businesses.

In March, Tata Steel started the process of selling its entire UK operations as it was losing as much as £1 million a day. The sales process did not attract much response due to huge pension liability.

The company then sold the long product division to Greybulls and booked a loss of ₹3,355 crore during the June quarter. It then announced plans to sell the speciality steel and pipe mill businesses separately, while exploring joint venture with ThyssenKrupp AG for Port Talbot plant.

The recently announced Brexit and subsequent depreciation of pound sterling against major currencies has brightened the scope of exports from the UK. This led to Tata Steel European operations recording £90 million operating profit in June quarter.

Addressing media on Monday, Koushik Chatterjee, Executive Director, Tata Steel, said despite the impact of the UK on Tata’s balance sheet, its British operation enjoyed a “significant benefit” during the quarter from the weakness of the pound.

However, he said the weaker pound is expected to benefit UK operations in short-term as it will add cost pressure due to higher cost of raw materials purchased in US dollars.

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