Britain’s government said it would work toward acquiring insolvent Speciality Steel UK after talks with a private bidder failed to produce a deal. The proposed public takeover is intended to preserve 1,300 jobs and retain industrial capacity at four sites. The steelmaker has been in administration for a year, with the government already covering wages while plants remain idle.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said officials would work toward acquiring Speciality Steel UK. The company employs about 1,300 people in Rotherham, Stocksbridge, Brinsworth and Wednesbury. It entered administration in 2025 after longstanding financial problems and the collapse of lender Greensill Capital. The government has funded wages at a reported cost of about 3.5 million pounds per month.
The plants have not produced steel for roughly a year, although workers have maintained equipment. Talks with Norwegian startup Blastr Green Steel did not produce a private acquisition by the government’s deadline. Blastr said it had a fully funded proposal that could close within 12 weeks and expressed surprise at the government announcement. Ministers described the facilities and electric-arc-furnace capability as strategically important to defense and advanced manufacturing.
Public ownership would follow a period in which the official receiver already controlled day-to-day operations. Electric arc furnaces can produce steel with lower direct emissions than traditional blast furnaces when supplied with suitable electricity and feedstock. An acquisition announcement does not resolve the cost of restarting production or the company’s long-term commercial model. The government said it preferred a private buyer but judged the available proposal insufficiently stable.
The record remains incomplete in defined ways. The purchase price, legal structure and restart plan had not been published. Blastr’s financing claim had not been independently tested in the public record. The next observable steps are Formal acquisition terms and parliamentary scrutiny. A production, investment and workforce plan for the four sites.