Excalibur Steel, a management buyout group interested in purchasing Tata Steel’s British steelmaking operations, is considering joining forces with rival bidder Liberty House, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.

Tata Group said in Ma-rch that it wanted to sell its UK steel operations, which has been hit by cheap Chinese imports, rising costs and weak demand. The decision prompted a political scramble to find a buyer that could save the thousands of jobs at stake.

The deadline for final bid submissions is on Monday, with a decision on how to proceed with the sale set to be taken at a meeting of the Tata board in Mumbai on Wednesday. The board is likely to shortlist several bids for further scrutiny.

The Sunday Times said a delegation from Excal-ibur met Liberty’s owner, Sanjeev Gupta, in London on Friday to discuss backing Gupta’s long-term plan to replace blast furnaces at Tata’s Port Talbot plant in Wales with facilities to process imported slab steel.