Tata manager expresses interest in Port Talbot MBO

Stuart Wilkie, managing director of Tata’s Strip Products is understood to be canvassing workers about joining a bid.

The investment he is seeking from employees could be as much as £10,000 each, according to sources. Private investors and government support would also be needed.

Tata would not confirm the names of anyone who has expressed an interest in buying its loss making UK business.

The Indian conglomerate announced three weeks ago that it was selling its UK assets.

Thousands of jobs are in the balance at Tata plants across the country as well as in firms supplying the business.

Mr Wilkie was one of those behind a survival plan for Tata’s UK steel business which was rejected by the board in India.

The business is losing £1 million a day and although Tata has not set a deadline for the sale, time is tight for a buyer to agree a deal.

Up to now, Liberty has been the only firm to express a public interest in buying the business.

However, Liberty’s executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta said he would consider taking it on only if the price was low and insisted he was not so attached to the idea that he could not walk away.

The steel magnate said that the company would not take on any plants that meant it would sustain losses as it was “not our business model”.