Greybull Capital mulls bid for Tata Steel's speciality arm

LONDON - Investment firm Greybull Capital is considering making a bid for Tata Steel Ltd's UK speciality steels arm, the Financial Times reported, citing sources. The troubled steelmaker's speciality steel division has drawn Greybull's interest, and representatives of the fund had visited Tata Steel's Rotherham facility recently, the newspaper said. A spokesman for Greybull declined to comment. Tata Steel earlier this month agreed to sell its Long Products Europe division in Scunthorpe to Greybull for 1 pound, saving a third of the 15,000 jobs placed in jeopardy by the Indian conglomerate's decision to sell up in Britain. The company, under former chairman Ratan Tata, bought its UK steel operations in 2007 by purchasing Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus for $12 billion (8.3 billion pounds) as a way to access the European market. But Tata has been hit by falling prices due to overcapacity in China, which is the world's biggest market for the alloy. Tata Steel said it does not comment on rumours or speculation. -Reuters