Tata Steel has sold its Long Products Europe business, including its Scunthorpe plant, to investment firm Greybull Capital for a token £1 or €1.
Tata Steel agreed to sell one of its main British steelworks to investment firm Greybull Capital for 1 pound on Monday, saving a third of the 15,000 jobs placed in jeopardy by the Indian conglomerate's decision to sell up in Britain.
Prime Minister David Cameron has been under pressure to keep the plants open to save jobs after Tata, one of the world's biggest steelmakers, said on March 30 it would sell its loss-making British business.
Cameron, already grappling with a divided ruling party ahead of a June 23 referendum on membership of the European Union, has been scrambling to try to find buyers for Tata's Scunthorpe plant and its other main plant at Port Talbot, to save jobs.
The move will safeguard 4,400 UK jobs, but workers are being asked to accept a pay cut and less generous pension arrangements.
Greybull said it was arranging a £400m investment package as part of the deal.
The business will be rebranded as "British Steel" once the deal is completed in eight weeks, it said.
The new business would include the Scunthorpe works, two mills in Teesside, an engineering workshop in Workington, a design consultancy in York, a mill in Hayange, France, and sales and distribution facilities.
The token sale price reflects the difficulties involved in turning around the loss-making business, but Greybull partner Marc Meyohas said he was "delighted" with the agreement and believed the division could become a "strong business".
"At its core, it's a very, very good business," he said.
He also said Greybull had not ruled out buying other parts of Tata's UK steel business.
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