Tata Steel (www.tatasteeleurope.com) has announced that the proposed sale of its UK operations has been temporarily halted, while it investigates the possibility of a joint venture with other leading steel companies.

Following a board meeting in India, Tata said it had decided to explore “alternative and more-sustainable portfolio solutions” and had “entered into discussions with strategic players in the steel industry”.

ITV News said that “there is only one bidder left with any serious chance of buying Tata Steel UK”, but it points out that “a deal is unlikely any time soon, as others hit out at the company’s unprofessional sales process”.

It believes that Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty House has taken an “almost unassailable” lead over the other six contenders, but others disagree, saying there is a strong possibility of a link-up with Germany’s Thyssen Krupp.

Koushik Chatterjee, Tata Steel’s executive director for Europe, said: “It is too early to give any assurances about the success of these talks. Such success — especially the inclusion of the UK business in a potential joint venture — will depend on several issues, including finding a suitable outcome for the British Steel Pension Scheme, successful discussions with the UK trade unions and the delivery of policy initiatives and other support from the Governments of the UK and Wales. These are necessary for realising a sustainable business in the UK.”