Chinese industrial giant Jingye Group on Tuesday said it would next week finally complete on its takeover of British Steel, including its Dutch operations - but not its small French unit. The announcement, which will preserve 3,200 jobs out of around 5,000, follows reports that the deal could have fallen through for the former state-owned company that went bankrupt in May amid fierce Chinese competition and Brexit uncertainty.
"The completion will take place on 9th March, preserving 3,200 high-skilled jobs," Jingye said in a statement, after warning posts would disappear as part of the takeover that will see it pump £1.2 billion ($1.5 billion, 1.4 billion euros) into the ailing business.
Jingye is purchasing British Steel's sprawling steelworks at Scunthorpe, northern England, as well as other UK mills, for an undisclosed amount. The deal "does not include the assets of British Steel France", Jingye said, but this could still be agreed.
"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 Chinese group added, noting that it has agreed to take on the Dutch activities. British Steel has its roots as far back as the Industrial Revolution but took shape in 1967 when the Labour government nationalised the industry, which at the time employed nearly 270,000 people.
After privatisation and a massive decline in Britain's steel sector, India's Tata Steel bought the group in 2007 before selling it on to investment fund Greybull Capital. British trade union Unite welcomed Tuesday's announcement.
"Unite's members at British Steel will be feeling a sense of relief today that the deal has finally been confirmed," said assistant general secretary Steve Turner."The lives of the affected workers and their families have effectively been on hold for 10 months since the company went into compulsory liquidation.
"Some hard decisions have had to be made in order to ensure the deal went through," Turner added in reference to the jobs lost.
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