Tata Steel UK unit attracts Hebei Iron & Steel

A company logo is seen outside the Tata steelworks near Rotherham in Britain, March 30, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Tata Steel Ltd's UK assets have attracted interest from Hebei Iron & Steel Group as the company shortlists bidders for the money-losing operations, people familiar with the matter said.

Indian producer JSW Steel Ltd is also weighing a bid, which would put it in competition with Liberty House Group and Excalibur Steel UK Ltd, a buyout team led by a Tata executive, said the people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations are private.

Tata Steel announced in March it was considering the sale of its UK operations. The business includes its Port Talbot plant in South Wales along with other assets around the UK. Producers in China, the world's largest producer and consumer of steel, are eyeing alternate markets as local demand falls.

A spokesman for Tata Steel didn't answer calls seeking comment. Three calls to the press office of Hebei Iron & Steel Group went unanswered. The group's publicly-traded arm, Hebei Iron & Steel Co, didn't immediately respond to a faxed request for comment. JSW is evaluating opportunities for UK steel facilities and said it's premature to comment further in a statement.

Tata Steel has shortlisted seven potential buyers to the next stage of sale process, the company said. The expressions of interest were for the whole UK business. Bidders that only wanted part of the operations won't be advanced, the company said. Buyout firm Greybull Capital last month agreed to buy Tata Steel's Scunthorpe steelworks in England as well as mills in Teesside and northern France.

Hebei agreed to buy Serbia's sole steelmaker Zelezara Smederevo for 46 million euros ($52.4 million) in April. European steelmakers are struggling with prices that have fallen by more than 50 percent since 2008 and a glut in global supply.