Tata Steel’s Scunthorpe steel site has been sold to British investment firm, Greybull Capital, helping save approximately 4,400 jobs in the UK.
Included in the £1 deal are the steelworks in Scunthorpe, two mills in Teeside, a mill in Hayange, France, an engineering workshop in Workington and a design consultancy in York.
Greybull Capital is best known for rescuing Monarch Airlines in 2014, and is said to be planning a £400m investment package to turn the Scunthorpe business around and return British steel to profitability. Half of the £400m will come from bank funding, with the rest coming from Greybull and its investors.
The existing team will continue to run the new business and, following the completion of the deal, the Scunthorpe steelworks business, currently known as Tata’s Long Products Europe (LPE) division, will trade under the brand name British Steel.
Partner at Greybull, Marc Meyohas, said the aim was to avoid any redundancies, grow the business and become profitable within a year.
Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the steelworkers’ union community, said: “Greybull’s interest in the business demonstrates that with the right investors UK steel making can have a positive future. So far, Tata Steel has honoured its commitment to be a responsible seller of the business by allowing time for the deal to be done.”
The deal is expected to complete within eight weeks, assuming the completion of the financing arrangements for LPE and contract arrangements with key suppliers are agreed.
