Partner Article

Bid for steel plant made

A bid has been launched to buy a mothballed steel plant on Teesside, it has been confirmed.

A project team put together by North East businessman Chris Musgrave is seeking to buy Corus’s Teesside Cast Products (TCP) plant in Redcar.

The consortium includes London-based private equity house and metallurgy experts Hatch Corporate Finance.

Mr Musgrave, the man behind Wynyard Park Limited, approached Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon and Middlesbrough Football Club chairman Steve Gibson for advice after both called for more action to safeguard the area’s 170-year steel-making heritage.

Mr Mallon said the consortium’s intention, if the bid was successful, was to re-commence steel-making.

“In December, myself and Steve Gibson went public with our concerns that, instead of the focus being on saving steel-making, all the talk seemed to be on the area trying to recover from the closure of Corus,” he said.

“We believed that was premature as there were avenues which had not been fully explored.

“No-one should be in any doubt that there is still a long way to go before any steel jobs are saved - and it may still prove impossible so people should not build their hopes up - but today’s news is welcome and is a step in the right direction.

“I have been very impressed by the determination of Chris Musgrave and Paul Weavers to move this along and the involvement of such a world-renowned company as Hatch is very encouraging.

“I have said all along that I will do all I can to assist this team or any other consortium interested in getting a bid together to try to save steel-making on the Tees. That remains the case - my door is always open.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .