Liberty House bids for Tata Steel's UK assets

Metal processing company Liberty House is making a formal bid to buy Indian giant Tata Steel's loss-making British assets, the firm said on Tuesday.

"We can confirm that Liberty will submit a letter of intent to Tata Steel today," a company spokesman said.

Tata Steel is Britain's biggest steel employer and its announcement in March that it would sell has put pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron's government as it puts thousands of jobs at risk.

The government has said it will contribute hundreds of millions of pounds (euros, dollars) to any potential deal and take a 25-percent stake in the assets.

Liberty House is owned by businessman Sanjeev Gupta and is the first to express an interest formally.

A management buyout team is also reported to be planning a bid under the name Excalibur UK Limited.

Tata, which employs 16,300 people in Britain, has said its British operations are not profitable.

It is already in the process of selling its long products division, which employs 4,400 people, to Greybull Capital, a British-based investment firm.

The assets it still wants to sell include Britain's biggest steel plant at Port Talbot in south Wales.