British Steel is set to be bought out of liquidation by Turkey’s military pension fund after officials confirmed exclusive sale talks on Friday.
Receivers to the Scunthorpe-based company, which went bust in May after government bailout talks with owner Greybull Capital collapsed, said Turkey’s Ataer was the “preferred bidder” after receiving “several bids” for the company.
Ataer is a subsidiary of the pension fund manager Oyak, which looks after retirement savings of 360,000 Turkish armed forces personnel. It was founded 15 years ago to invest in iron and steel and co-owns Turkish steel giant Erdemir.
The Official Receiver running the process said the sale process would conclude within weeks. British Steel will continue to trade and supply customers as normal during the process, it added.
Oyak general manager Süleyman Savaş Erdem said the deal was “one of the biggest achievements of the Turkish steel industry” after it defeated 80 bids.
“We, will continue to evaluate opportunities globally inline with our growth-oriented vision and we will continue our investments to provide sustainable high benefit to our members,” he said.
