Steel crisis: Sajid Javid and Carwyn Jones fly to Mumbai for Tata Steel board meeting
Business secretary Sajid Javid has flown to Mumbai to attend a Tata board meeting to discuss final bids submitted on Monday for the steelmaker's UK operations.
Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones will also attend today's meeting.
City A.M. understands four bids have been submitted for the Indian steel giant's UK arm, although seven bidders advanced to the second stage of the sales process earlier this month.
Read more: Who are the seven bidders vying for Tata Steel's UK assets?
The final bids are understood to have come from commodities investor Liberty House, led by Sanjeev Gupta, management buy-out vehicle Excalibur Steel, Greybull Capital and India's JSW Steel.
Excalibur Steel and Liberty House are expected to have endorsed working together in their separate bids for the business, which includes facilities at Port Talbot, Newport and Rotherham.
Sajid Javid drew criticism for his decision to attend a political trip to Australia rather than attend Tata's Mumbai board meeting on 29 March, when the company decided to launch the sale of its UK business.
Read more: US steel tariffs put UK market at greater risk says Labour
He was blasted by the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee at the end of April for seemingly "scrambling around" in the wake of the steel crisis. He acknowledged that "in hindsight" he should have attended the March meeting.
In April, the UK government said it would consider taking a 25 per cent stake in Tata Steel's UK business in order to help a deal go through. It has so far said it would do this on "commercial terms", which could come in the form of loans or an equity stake.