British Steel, which employs almost 900 people across the North-East and York, officially started trading today (Wednesday, June 1), with bosses saying it has already turned a profit.
Advertisement
Tata Steel in Lisburn is set to be rebranded as British Steel after the completion of the sale of the firm’s long products division.
Greybull has paid a nominal £1 for the business.
He added that the rescue would be a “cost-led turnaround”, but Peter Hogg, commercial director of British Steel, said there were “no plans for any reductions” in the 4,800 workforce across the business.
Greybull purchased the portion of Tata Steel’s United Kingdom business, which includes the major steelworks in Scunthorpe, as well as various other sites across the country, for a nominal fee of £1.
“I am delighted we are relaunching our fantastic business as British Steel”, said McBean.
“British Steel is built on firm foundations with a skilled, experienced and dedicated workforce determined to make a success of the business”.
Steel staff previously voted to accept short-term pay and pension changes to push through the takeover, and Marc Meyohas, who runs private equity operation Greybull alongside his brother, Nathaniel, thanked workers for their dedication.
The UK branch of the company has already sold the Long Proucts Europe group to Greybull Capital, to be finalised after the transfer of contracts and the approval of the Government.
4,400 in the United Kingdom and 400 in France.
General secretary Roy Rickhuss said: “Community welcomes the opening of this new chapter in the course of the United Kingdom steel industry”.
Tata Steel’s former Long Products arm made less than £10million profit in the past two months.
The completion of this transaction marks the start of the formal sale process of Tata Steel Ltd’s United Kingdom assets, which it acquired in 2007 through the $12.9 billion purchase of Corus Group.
The sale includes Teesside Beam Mill at Lackenby and the Skinningrove site, as well as sites in Scunthorpe, York and Workington, which will now operate under the British Steel brand.
However, there is growing speculation that Tata could retain the United Kingdom operations and take the state aid on offer, with ministers desperate to be seen to have “saved” Britain’s steel industry ahead of Britain’s vote on European Union membership on June 23.
Advertisement
There has been intense speculation about the identity of the bidders for the rest of Tata’s United Kingdom business.
