Image copyright GETTY IMAGESA Chinese firm is set to complete its takeover of British Steel on Monday.
Jingye Group previously said that it would save more than 3,000 jobs in Scunthorpe and Teesside and modernise the towns’ steelworks.
The firm reportedly offered £50m to buy the company after it collapsed and was placed under the control of the UK Insolvency Service last year.
Unions have said that nearly 500 workers could still face losing their jobs.
British Steel employed about 5,000 people at the time of its collapse, and is the second-largest steelmaker in the country.
Jingye Group, which also makes steel, has also promised to invest about £1.2bn over the next 10 years on upgrading its plants and machinery.
Jingye’s chief executive has described the deal as a “new chapter in British steelmaking”.
Uncertainty for workers
Confirmation of the takeover will follow months of uncertainty for workers. The government has kept British Steel running since last May as it looked for a buyer for the business.Jingye signed an agreement to purchase British Steel in November after talks between the Official Receiver, which handled the insolvency process, and a Turkish bidder fell apart.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESIn January, the French government said it might veto the deal because it considered British Steel’s plant in Hayange a strategic national asset.
Located in north-east France, the plant is seen as important because it supplies track for the country’s railways.
Jingye’s boss said earlier this year that he remained “interested” in purchasing the plant, but has pressed on with purchasing assets in the UK and the Netherlands.
British Steel was formed in 2016 after being sold by India’s Tata for £1 to the private equity firm Greybull Capital.
It entered insolvency less than three years later. It had sought financial support from the government before it was placed in liquidation.
Analysis: Sarah Corker, BBC business correspondent
They’ve been making iron and steel in Scunthorpe for more than 150 years. This is very much a one industry town and when the steelworks struggles the whole community feels it.
The plant directly employs almost 3,000 people but supports another 20,000 jobs in the wider supply chain. From hairdressers to market traders, businesses say they’ve noticed people reining in their spending amid the ongoing uncertainty.
Image copyright REUTERSThe loss-making steel plant has had a string of owners over the decades from Corus to Tata Steel to Greybull Capital – all tried and failed to turn the business around. A fourth-generation steelworker told me back in May that it felt as though they were “staring over the edge of the abyss” as the plant was on the brink of closure with mass redundancies ahead. But – again – Scunthorpe steelworks has been rescued by a new owner at the eleventh hour promising huge investment.
There is some scepticism about how much influence China will soon have in the UK steel industry. While steelworkers are deeply relieved that the takeover is going ahead, they are asking what Jingye can and will do differently amid tough global trading conditions where many before have struggled
Source: The BBC
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