The July 21 statement says the U.K. formally notified Jingye on July 16, 2026, after taking control in April 2025 and rejecting compensation over what it called a valueless asset.
Jingye Steel Co., Ltd. said it will seek full legal redress after the British government formally notified the company on July 16, 2026 that British Steel had been nationalized. In a July 21 statement, Jingye said it bought British Steel in 2020 when the company was near bankruptcy, restored it to profitability within a year, and spent the following five years investing in equipment upgrades, technology and operating capacity while maintaining wages and avoiding economic layoffs during COVID-19, Brexit, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and high inflation. Jingye said talks that began in September 2021 over a joint investment plan tied to the U.K. goal for iron-ore-based steelmakers to reach carbon neutrality by 2035 broke down because the government repeatedly refused to co-invest despite not objecting to the restructuring plan. The company said the government then changed course, passed the Steel Industry Act 2025 (Special Measures) in six hours on April 12, 2025 and took control of British Steel, stripping Jingye of control, management and economic rights tied to its shareholding. Jingye said compensation talks failed after the government argued British Steel had "no value." It added that it has already started consultation procedures under the applicable bilateral investment treaty and reserves the right to pursue international arbitration (a cross-border dispute process). The statement also cited a National Audit Office (U.K. public spending watchdog) report saying the government had spent 377 million pounds by the end of January 2026 on its intervention in British Steel, with that figure expected to exceed 600 million pounds by the end of June 2026 and possibly top 1.5 billion pounds by 2028.