Priority to review UK plant: Tata

With its plants in Britain facing “severe cash burn”, Tata Steel on Monday said it is working on a “priority” basis to complete a review of its entire European operations, including UK’s largest steel plant at Port Talbot.

Tata Steel, one of the flagships of over $100-billion Tata Group, last week said it is exploring all options for portfolio restructuring, including potential divestment of Tata Steel UK, in whole or in parts, amid a deteriorating financial performance of the arm in the last 12 months. “In recent months, there has been a significant cash drain, which is why a time-bound solution is important in this whole process. Our endeavour will be preserving the asset and doing this in an orderly manner as far as possible.”

“This is not a valuation exercise for Tata Steel. There is severe cash burn in our UK Operations. Hence, it is imperative to close the review on priority,” a Tata Steel spokesperson said when asked about the plans of the firm to shut down its plans in the UK. In the last five years, Tata Steel has suffered an asset impairment of about $3 billion on its UK business.