Tata Steel UK has announced plans to potentially sell its Speciality Steels business to Liberty House Group.

The company has signed a Letter of Intent on the £100 million deal, which is subject to due diligence and corporate approvals.

The document covers several South Yorkshire-based assets including the Rotherham electric arc steelworks, the steel purifying facility in Stocksbridge and a mill in Brinsworth as well as service centres in Bolton and Wednesbury, UK, and in Suzhou and Xi'an, China.

Overall, the agreement will help secure 1,700 jobs in the aerospace, automotive and the oil & gas industries.

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Bimlendra Jha, Chief Executive Officer of Tata Steel UK, said: "The Speciality Steels business is independent of the pan-European strip products supply chain and today's announcement is in line with the overall restructuring strategy of the UK portfolio.

"This is an important step forward in seeking a future for Speciality Steels and we have reached this stage thanks to the efforts of employees, trade unions and management. We now look forward to working with Liberty on the due diligence and other work streams so that the sale can be successfully concluded."

Unite national officer for metals, Harish Patel, welcomed the deal but warned on the agreements terms, stating the "devil is very much in the detail".

"Today's announcement is welcome as we can at last see some movement towards certainty for our members – our key concerns are job security for the workforce; the future of the British Steel pension scheme; and what the investment plans will be from the Liberty House Group going forward," he said.

"Of course, the devil is very much in the detail which is why we will be asking Tata Steel to ensure that we can conduct independent due diligence on its proposals."

(LM)