[Ferro-Alloys.com] The Financial Mail reported that the French government is threatening to scupper the Chinese rescue deal for British Steel. French Economy minister Ms Agnes Pannier-Runacher has warned that her government is prepared to block the sale of British Steel's profitable French arm to China's Jingye. Ms Pannier-Runacher said that the deal could be blocked if the French do not have all the guarantees. She was speaking after France Rail, an arm of British Steel which is a major supplier of rails to the French railway network, agreed to buy steel from the struggling Ascoval mill in northern France.

 

Ascoval is part-owned by Greybull, the controversial private equity group that owned British Steel when it fell into administration in May.

 

Jingye agreed a rescue deal with the UK Government for British Steel last month, but the plan has raised national security concerns amid claims that it could give the Chinese political leverage in Britain. (Steelguru)