Jingye agrees to completion of British Steel acquisition

Chinese steelmaker Jingye Steel has announced that it has agreed to proceed towards the completion of its purchase of British Steel from the UK receiver. It has meanwhile now made job offers to certain employees whilst having signalled to others that they will not be needed in the new company.

In a statement monitored by Kallanish, the steelmaker says that completion of the deal will take place on 9 March. 3200 jobs will be preserved, Jingye says, while 100 jobs will transfer to Barrett Steel following the sale of four British Steel distribution centres. Although neither specified by the company or the Unite and Community trade unions in their statements, local media report that 400 current employees will not be offered positions in the new company.

Subject to the acceptance of employment offers, Jingye will acquire British Steel’s steelworks at Scunthorpe and UK mills at Teesside Beam Mill and Skinningrove, as well as subsidiary businesses FN Steel and TSP Engineering.

The completion of the deal will also unlock the pledged investment of £1.2 billion ($1.54 billon) to modernise the Scunthorpe site as well as improving its energy efficiency and environmental performance, Jingye adds.

“Jingye has agreed to the Official Receiver’s proposal, supported by the UK government, to complete the transaction in stages, first completing on the UK and Netherlands assets before completing on the French assets,” the steelmaker continues. The French government has not yet made a judgement on Jingye’s proposed acquisition of British Steel France nor, at this stage, indicated when it may be in a position to do so, the steelmaker adds.