According to Sky News, China’s largest rebar producer Jingye has reportedly made a bid for the UK-based steelmaker British Steel, though British government officials have picked Turkey’s Ataer Holding as the preferred bidder and started final negotiations.
As SteelOrbis reported previously, Ataer Holding, owned by OYAK, the biggest complimentary pension fund in Turkey, signed an exclusivity agreement to conduct a detailed financial, legal and operational review of British Steel for a period of two months which ends at the end of October this year.
“Sources said that, though the Official Receiver could not engage in discussions with rival bidders during the exclusivity period, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy was not prohibited from holding talks with other potential buyers of British Steel,” Sky News reported.
The new bid coming from Jingye might strengthen British ministers’ hand in the ongoing negotiations.
As Chinese producers are not allowed to increase capacity at home, they are following a strategy of either buying or building steel mills in foreign countries.