Thursday is agreement reached about the split of the European division of the Tata Steel Group, which is part of the Indian conglomerate Tata. The company announced this on Friday morning.
A working group of economists and former directors has been working on a strategic plan for, among other things, privatization and greening of Tata Steel Netherlands.
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Under fire
The new structure will bring the Tata Steel Europe organization to an end. From now on, Tata Steel Netherlands (popularly known as Hoogovens) and Tata Steel UK (formerly British Steel) operate as two independent companies. Only in the case of joint customers will the two continue to hang out with each other.
“Today’s split is a historic moment, after 22 years of working with British colleagues,” the company wrote. Tata Steel, which is under heavy fire for emitting CO2 and particulate matter, announced in September that it is moving away from coal in its blast furnaces and wants to make steel using natural gas and eventually hydrogen. The split should make that “hydrogen route” easy, Tata said.
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Not a happy marriage
It had not been butter for a long time between the two companies. While the British branch needed help to keep its head above water in 2019, Brexit and later the corona crisis came on top of that. Meanwhile, the Dutch blamed that the loss of the poorly performing British branch ended up on IJmuiden’s plate, and that investments in the Dutch factory failed to materialize.
The new organization of Tata Steel Netherlands now consists of two branches: IJmuiden and Downstream. These are managed by the Board of Directors, which consists of CEO Hans van den Berg, financial top man Co van Dort and newcomer Tom Eussen, who will be responsible for the Downstream industry.
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‘Future in your own hands’
The FNV trade union, which has regularly clashed with the Dutch company in recent years about job security, the resignation of former CEO Theo Henrar and greening, says it is ‘pleased’ that Tata Steel IJmuiden will be given a more independent position within Tata Steel. “This gives the management and employees in IJmuiden largely the future for Tata Steel Netherlands in their own hands,” said FNV director Cihan Lacin in an initial response.
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