Tata Steel has received feelers from Swedish steelmaker SSAB AB to acquire its troubled steel business in Europe. This comes as steelmakers in Europe are looking to consolidate their position in a tough market.

The talks between SSAB and Tata Steel are at a preliminary stage, according to sources close to the development.

It was earlier reported that SSAB, one of the largest producers of commercial steel across the Nordics, was keen on acquiring steel assets owned by German major thyssenkrupp.

However, rival player Liberty Steel Group, part of the GFG Alliance, announced that it had made a non-binding indicative offer to acquire the steel activities of thyssenkrupp.

SSAB has officially said it is not keen on a bidding contest for thyssenkrupp assets. Sources said if Liberty succeeds in buying them, SSAB would want to bolster its presence in Europe by acquiring another asset, which is likely to be Tata Steel.

Incidentally, Liberty had also expressed an interest in Tata Steel’s assets in Europe earlier this year. “We are always open to any kind of association with the Tatas. We have a long and mutually productive history with them; we consider them one of the best groups in the world,” Sanjeev Gupta, Chairman of Liberty House, had told BusinessLine in a recent interview.

Endless trouble

Tata Steel’s Europe assets including the Port Talbot plant in the UK have been a trouble spot for the company for several years now.

The parent company had recently decided not to pump in any more funding into its sick European units. thyssenkrupp previously tried to partner with Tata Europe but this was vetoed by EU regulators.

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