The British Steel factory in France has been advertised for sale despite a deal with a Chinese firm Jingye to rescue the entire company.
The British Steel factory in France is being sold separately from the United Kingdom (UK) operation despite an agreement made with Chinese firm Jingye Group to acquire the company and preserve around 4,000 jobs.
The acquisition deal will rescue British Steel, which has been kept running by the government via the Official Receiver since it went into liquidation in May. While an agreement is scheduled to be signed, the company will remain under the Official Receiver for at least a month before being transferred.
The agreement could safeguard around 4,000 employees working at British Steel’s Scunthorpe and Teesside plants, another 20,000 in the supply chain, and an additional 1,000 workers based in France and the Netherlands.
However, the French government has the authority to block the sale of the Hayange plant and may have sanctioned the "for sale" ads. The move angered Jingye executives.
It is unclear to what the impact of a separate sale of the northern French steel mill would be on Jingye's deal for the rest of the business. The factory manufactures steel for the French rail network, including the state-owned train operator SNCF, and is considered a strategic asset.
The for sale ads in the Financial Times and France's Les Echo. While the ads did not name the plant, it indicated that the site produces "steel railway products for railways, subways and tramways" and employs about 450 people, which match the Hayange facility.
According to the Financial Times, a potential bidder for the site is Ascoval, a French steel company controlled by Greybull Capital, which used to own British Steel several years ago. It also reported that Jingye executives have contacted the French finance ministry to discuss the Hayange site.
