Tata Steel Says Talk of UK Long Products Sale is False, Rio Denies Pacific Aluminium Sale

Denied deals abound today in MetalCrawler. An Indian steel major says not so fast on a sale of its long products division and Rio Tinto Group might be close to moving an aluminum division but is refusing to comment so far.

Tata Says No Long Products Deal Done

Reports that Tata Steel is about to sell its long products division to Klesch Group are “speculative” and do not reflect the views of the company, the steelmaker told India’s National Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

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Geneva-based Klesch Group, a global commodities business involved in chemicals, metals and oil production and trading, declined to comment.

Tata Steel, Europe’s second-largest steelmaker, said in October it is in talks to sell its loss-making long products division, which employs 6,500 people mostly in the UK, to Klesch.

Same With Pacific Aluminium

Rio Tinto Group plans to sell some of its aluminum assets in a potential $1 billion deal, the Financial Times reported, reviving a sale plan for its Pacific Aluminium unit two years after it was canceled.

The FT, citing “people aware of Rio’s plans”, said on Sunday that Rio had hired Credit Suisse to find a buyer for Pacific Aluminium, known as PacAl, which comprises a group of smelters in Australia and New Zealand.

A spokesman for Rio Tinto said the company “doesn’t comment on market speculation.”

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