Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Official Receiver on sale of British Steel

International law firm Clifford Chance has advised the Official Receiver and Special Managers of British Steel on the sale of the business and assets to Jingye Steel and Iron, a privately owned enterprise from Hebei province in China. The deal, signed on 10 November 2019, prevents a costly shutdown of operations and the potential loss of 24,000 jobs at the steel works and in the supply chain.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partners Philip Hertz, David Lewis, Nick Rees, and Iain White in London, with Paris partner Laurent Schoenstein and Amsterdam Partner Greg Crookes leading respectively on the sale of British Steel France Rail Holdings and the sale of FN Steel. The complex transaction required a multi-disciplinary, international team comprising partners and associates across a number of practice areas including restructuring, corporate, employment, real estate (including our environmental specialists), finance, pensions, IP, TMT and tax as well as lawyers in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong and Paris.

Clifford Chance's global Restructuring and Insolvency team specialises in complex multi-jurisdictional restructurings and insolvencies with dedicated resources in the key European jurisdictions, the US and Asia. The team has advised on some of the most important restructurings and insolvencies taking place across the globe, including Abengoa, Codere, APCOA, Carillion, Thomas Cook, House of Fraser, Dubai World, Edcon, Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd, Mongolian Mining, Oi SA, Novo Banco, Russian Standard Bank and Samarco Mineração. The team also recently advised on the development and implementation of the new insolvency law in Saudi Arabia, and last week welcomed restructuring and insolvency partner Delphine Caramalli to the firm's Paris office