[Ferro-Alloys.com] UK’s Business Secretary Ms Andrea Leadsom confirmed that good progress is being made with the sale of British Steel to proposed new owners Jingye. 

She said “I wanted to inform the Support Group that I had a very positive meeting with Jingye’s CEO Mr Li Huiming yesterday and remain confident that they are firmly on track to complete their acquisition of British Steel. My officials have been working closely with Jingye during the purdah period, and in our meeting I re-iterated my personal commitment to support Jingye and the Official Receiver to conclude this transaction as soon as practicable. I appreciate that there has been some unhelpful media speculation over last weekend, which was wholly inaccurate. As the Trade unions are aware, the Official Receiver was clear in his message to all British Steel employees on Monday that such speculation was emphatically not true. The Official Receiver has also confirmed, in statements made to the press over the weekend, that no talks are taking place with any other interested parties seeking to acquire the business. I would be most grateful if support group members can use relevant opportunities to reassure key parties that the Jingye acquisition remains on-track and to encourage them to continue to support the business at this time.”

British media also reported that British Steel Jingye deal has been bolstered by reports the government is in the process of finalising a GBP 120 million package to help protect jobs in the area. It is expected that the government will confirm it will provide the funding in the next few weeks. A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said “We are continuing to work with Official Receiver and Jingye on the next stage of the sales process. The Government schemes that are available to all steel producers will be available to them, should they choose to apply to them but no Government money has currently been committed.” (Steel Guru)