Deal to sell Tata Steel's Scunthorpe plant thought to be near

Updated

The sale of a huge Tata steelworks is expected to be completed today as efforts continue to find a buyer for the firm's other UK plants.

Negotiations between the Indian conglomerate and investment firm Greybull Capital over the Scunthorpe plant started nine months ago. It is expected that the deal will be announced today, bringing some welcome good news to the crisis hit steel industry.

Thousands of jobs will be saved at the plant and at supplier firms.

Neither side would confirm that the deal was close to being finalised.

Meanwhile Business Secretary Sajid Javid will address MPs later on his efforts to find a buyer for Tata's loss-making UK business.

He flew to India last week to meet company executives and ask for enough time to find a buyer.

Liberty is the only company expressing a public interest in buying the assets, including the country's biggest steel plant at Port Talbot in south Wales.

The formal sales process will be launched today.

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