Tata Steel Europe’s operations in Britain and Netherlands may split off 20 years after their merger to gain access to government COVID-19 bonds, according to local media reports. In 2007, Tata Steel acquired Corus group formed by the merge of Netherland’s Koninklijke Hoogovens and British Steel in 1999.
Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group, has refused to further funds the loss-making UK and EU subsidiaries. The company has sought support of £500 million ($617mn) from the UK government to sail through the COVID-19 crisis. This could mean that British tax money could partly end up in the Netherlands which the British government is unlikely to support as they are keen to help locally-owned businesses.
The company has scaled down production to preserve liquidity and adjust to diminishing steel demand and halted automotive production. Although, the company will continue to operate all four blast furnaces across two steelmaking hubs – in Ijmuiden, the Netherlands and Port Talbot, Wales.