By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--Tata Steel Ltd. (500470.BY) confirmed Wednesday that
talks to sell its European long-products business and associated
distribution facilities to Klesch Group have been discontinued.
Tata Steel, Europe's second-largest steelmaker by production
capacity after ArcelorMittal (MT), had signed a memorandum of
understanding with the group headed by Anglo-American industrialist
Gary Klesch in October 2014 to sell the unit.
India-based Tata Steel took the decision this weekend to
incorporate the business unit, which makes rail and wire rods, into
Tata Steel U.K.
This "will enable [us] to determine the strategic options to be
assessed and the appropriate actions to be taken," said Karl
Koehler, Chief Executive of Tata Steel's European operations in a
statement.
The news was first reported by the Financial Times on Monday in
which it cited Mr. Klesch's fustration with the U.K. government for
its apparent lack of interest in old-economy industries.
Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@wsj.com
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