British Steel Takeover Creates New History in Steelmaking

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Chinese firm Jingye Steel confirmed that acquisition of British Steel will be completed on Monday, March 9, 2020. The completion of the deal is subject to acceptance of job offers by British Steel employees.

The transaction is expected to open a new chapter in British steelmaking, as it will secure approximately 3,200 high-skilled jobs at British Steel’s Scunthorpe, Teeside and other facilities in the UK and the Netherlands. At the same time, the deal is likely to lead to around 400 job redundancies.

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According to Huiming Li, chief executive, Jingye Group, the company is committed to not misusing the trust placed on the company by British Steel employees and unions. The company plans to invest £1.2 billion in modernizing the Scunthorpe steelworks by improving its energy efficiency and environmental performance. The deal covers Scunthorpe steelworks, UK mills at Teesside Beam Mill and Skinningrove and its subsidiary businesses FN Steel and TSP Engineering.

The assets of British Steel France are not included in this transaction, as the French government is yet to make a final decision on Jingye’s proposal. The sale of British Steel operations in France will now be conducted separately.