In July, dedicated group made a general offer for British steel. The guardian said several companies had expressed interest in the takeover, but the dedicated group was ahead of the field of bidders. On November 4, senior management of the dedicated group paid a special visit to British steel's main plant in Lincolnshire and assured British steel that if the takeover went ahead, they would invest fully in expanding production and serving the UK and European markets.

According to public information, jingye group, founded in 1996 in pingshan county, shijiazhuang city, hebei province, is mainly engaged in steel industry. It also deals in deep processing of steel, international trade, 3D printing of powder metallurgy, tourism and hotel industry. Currently, the company has 23,500 employees and total assets of 39 billion yuan. In 2018, ye ye group ranked 217 among China's top 500 enterprises and 95th among China's top 500 manufacturing enterprises. Its steel production scale ranks the 18th in China, and it is one of the important private steel enterprise groups in the northern region.

A statement on British steel's website said business would continue as normal until the deal was completed. Support from employees, suppliers and customers has been a key factor in achieving this outcome since the liquidation.

Li chupo, chairman of dedicated group, said a further £1.2bn would be invested over the next 10 years to upgrade British steel's plants and machinery "to improve the company's environmental performance, improve energy efficiency and make the business more competitive and sustainable". The dedicated group says it will offer jobs to as many British businesses as possible. Notably, given the decline of the UK steel industry, the deal would give dedicated group control of a third of the UK steel industry, with Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, previously saying that "there are no national security issues with this acquisition".

In fact, the reason why the UK welcomes this acquisition is that it values the high-quality resources of Chinese enterprises. Chinese enterprises seeking cooperation and development in overseas projects will not only bring more capital and employment opportunities, but also promote the recovery of the UK economy. On the other hand, deeper cooperation will help deepen exchanges between China and the UK. An industry source said: "under the terms of the deal, dedicated still has to keep the 4,000 people who worked at the scunthorpe and teesside plants, and 1,000 who worked in France and the Netherlands, which is the equivalent of dedicated taking over British steel without firing anyone."

There are still uncertainties

For quite some time in the past, British steel was regarded as the pride of British heavy industry. In 1967, the British parliament passed the steel act of 1967, which nationalized the 14 steel enterprises in the UK and merged them into the British steel company. In the late 1960s, British steel companies accounted for 90 per cent of the country's steel capacity and employed more than 260,000 people in the UK and across the commonwealth. In 1999, British steel announced a merger with Dutch steel company Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus group, then the largest steel company in Europe and the third largest in the world. The newly formed Corus group was bought in 2007 by India's tata steel, then the world's fifth-largest steelmaker, for £4.3 billion after a programme of massive job cuts and cost cuts. After that, British steel company officially declared bankruptcy on May 22 due to the impact of "brexit" and the rise of raw materials.

Historically, once-mighty British steel companies have faced various difficulties in the European market in recent years, and Chinese entry into the sector requires preparation. Liu xinwei, an analyst, believes that the reason why dedicated group was able to acquire British steel is closely related to its leading position in the industry. Dedicated group is the largest rebar production base in China, while British steel company specializes in manufacturing railway tracks, "long products" (the general term used in building girders) and high quality steel wire. "Dedicated group just lacks the technology, so buying UK steel will give dedicated valuable technology and new production lines."

However, dedicated's bid for British steel still needs official approval from France, the Netherlands and the European Union, according to the guardian. As part of the deal, dedicated will also buy the French arm of British steel. In this regard, the French have made a request to the Chinese companies to ensure that, once the acquisition is completed, they continue to supply the French with the steel used in the construction of the TGV high-speed railway and to provide at least two supply channels. Discussions between the two sides in the coming weeks will focus on meeting French demands, according to people familiar with the matter.

"It is worth noting that France is trying to gain more benefits for its own country by bargaining with Chinese companies, while at the same time accelerating its entry into the Chinese market." According to liu xinwei, France and China have recently signed cooperation agreements worth 105 billion yuan, covering agriculture, energy and aviation. In addition, France also brought more than 80 French companies to the second expo to capture business opportunities in the Chinese market. At that time, France stressed that it hoped that China and France could achieve win-win cooperation. 'if France really wants a win-win situation, it should show its sincerity when it gets access to the Chinese market,' Mr. Liu said.

Achieve a multi-win situation

As a domestic private steel enterprise, jingye group has gone abroad to acquire the second largest steel mill in the United Kingdom. "The degree of internationalization of private enterprises in China is relatively low, and they don't know much about international norms. Acquiring British companies can make private enterprises quickly internationalize, which is very good." Zhou rong believes that although China's steel exports to Europe, but still mainly cheap steel. Since 2016, in particular, European manufacturers have been unhappy with the eu's 81 percent tax on Chinese steel, as they were forced to cut prices and cut jobs as a result of cheap Chinese steel. On the one hand, he says, a successful takeover of British steel would allow it to sell its steel products again in the future without paying the high tariffs it has had to pay in the past. Although the UK may be about to leave the eu, the customs agreement between the UK and the eu has not been invalidated, so entering the UK means entering the European market. On the other hand, some types of steel produced in the UK are rarely produced in China, so dedicated group can quickly expand its business scope and increase the variety of its products.

Facing brexit, the UK needs a new market first, which may be the Chinese market. "Brexit means there will be many uncertainties in the future economic relationship between the UK and the eu, which will affect the cooperation between British companies and companies from other eu countries," said zhou rong. Chinese companies choose to enter the UK at this time, acquisitions or mergers will be relatively easy. "In addition, the UK has a high level of labor costs and industry norms. In this regard, companies from China and the UK also benefit from mutual financial integration."

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