Deal agreed for Scunthorpe steelworks

There have been celebrations today after Tata Steel announced it's agreed a deal to sell its Scunthorpe steelworks to Greybull Capital.

Greybull Capital will invest £400m pounds into the Scunthorpe site.

It means around 4 and a half thousand jobs in the British steel industry have now been secured - with sites in York, Teesside and Cumbria also included in the deal.

The company will trade under the name British Steel.

As part of the deal - staff are expected to agree to a 3 percent pay cut - as well as taking a less generous pension scheme.

The deal would be completed once a number of outstanding conditions have been resolved, including transfer of contracts, certain Government approvals and the satisfactory completion of financing arrangements.

Bimlendra Jha, Executive Chairman of the stand-alone Long Products Europe business, has praised workers in the town:

Bemlindra also told Viking:

"This sale is the best possible outcome for employees who have worked relentlessly to ensure the business’s survival, and helped to make it attractive to a potential buyer.” "The agreement follows an accelerated process of negotiations between Tata Steel UK and Greybull Capital who have worked constructively together. The agreement is an important milestone on the road towards continuing steelmaking in Scunthorpe and steel processing in other locations in the UK and France."

In a statement, Chief Executive of Tata Steel’s European operations Hans Fischer, also welcomed the news. He said:

“Under these current challenging market conditions in Europe with the soaring levels of imports from China, we are happy that Tata Steel UK and Greybull Capital have entered the final stage of completion of the sale of shareholding in Longs Steel UK. This transaction will offer a future for the Long Products Europe business and its 4,400 employees in the UK.”