(Reuters) -Australia’s BlueScope Metal stated on Monday it has assembled a heavyweight consortium of worldwide steelmakers to bid for Sanjeev Gupta’s troubled Whyalla Steelworks, over a month after the native authorities formally opened a sale course of.
The group — comprising Japan’s Nippon Metal, India’s JSW Metal, and South Korea’s POSCO — brings a mixed market worth of A$115 billion ($74.4 billion), and is eyeing the South Australian plant as a future hub for low-emissions iron manufacturing for home and export markets.
The consortium has lodged a non-binding expression of curiosity however has but to submit a proper bid.
Whyalla Steelworks was positioned in administration in February, after its working firm collapsed underneath tens of thousands and thousands in debt. The Australian and South Australian governments stepped in with a joint A$1.9 billion rescue bundle to safeguard native jobs and protect a key piece of commercial infrastructure.
Australia formally opened the sale course of in June, citing robust international curiosity from corporations looking for a foothold within the rising inexperienced metal financial system.
Gupta’s household conglomerate, GFG Alliance, was not instantly reachable for a Reuters request for remark.
($1 = 1.5466 Australian {dollars})
(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Sandra Maler)
