[Ferro-Alloys.com]Sir Terry Matthews confident of rescue deal for UK firm including Port Talbot steelworks and may even part-fund management buyout

 

Welsh billionaire Sir Terry Matthews has said he could be willing to put his own money behind a management buyout of Tata Steel’s UK business and the Port Talbot steelworks.

 

Matthews said he is “feeling really good” about the prospects of a rescue deal for the steel business, which could save thousands of jobs in the UK.

 

Matthews, who made his fortune in technology and telecoms, is part of a consortium of public and private sector figures from south Wales supporting a management buyout.

 

 

Welsh billionaire Terry Matthews backs Tata Steel UK buyout plan

 

The tycoon said the consortium is still putting its team together and its funding has yet to be finalised, but that he is ready to back the buyout.

 

“If it makes sensible business and the future looks really good, frankly there will be investors and we already know it,” he told BBC Wales. “Potentially me too. The fact is, you first put a really good team together, then you fight in an area which has upside. So I am feeling pretty good about it.”

 

Tata Steel has contacted 190 potential buyers about rescuing its UK

business, but the backing of Matthews has helped the management buyout to emerge as a credible option. The consortium held talks all-day on Thursday at Celtic Manor, Matthews’ golf course and resort in south Wales, and welcomed the news that the government is prepared to take a 25% in the business alongside a private sector buyer.

 

Matthews adds: “I believe the steel industry for one reason or another has reached a low point – price per tonne of steel is an example. That’s the time to invest, not when things are going really well. If it is at a low point, it is probably going to go up.

 

“So I am looking forward to a future – in particular for the steelworks in Port Talbot, I know the people there very well – that is more next generation steel.

 

“Right now it is power hungry. Let’s see if we can make steel in the future which is the next generation – lower power, better quality, global market. The steel industry is never going to go away. For the United Kingdom it’s a strategically important industry.”

 

The consortium also includes Simon Gibson, the chief executive of Matthews’ investment vehicle Wesley Clover, and Steve Phillips, the chief executive of the Neath Port Talbot county borough council.

 

A key figure in the group is Roger Maggs, a former executive at metals company Alcan Aluminium, now part or Rio Tinto. Maggs is the chairman of the Port Talbot waterfront enterprise zone and co-founded investment firm Celtic House with Matthews. He is understood to have committed himself full-time to working on the rescue bid, which revolves around activating a turnaround plan for the steel business drawn up by management but rejected by the Tata board in Mumbai last month.

 

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