MATERIALS: ROUND-UP
BRITISH STEEL TO BE BOUGHT BY
TURKISH ARMY PENSION FUND
The Turkish Armed Forces
Assistance Fund (known as Oyak)
has reached a tentative deal to buy
British Steel, which employs 5,000 people,
out of insolvency by the end of the year.
British Steel owns the Scunthorpe
steel works where 3,000 people work
with another 800 employed on Teesside.
But the firm was put into compulsory
liquidation in May after rescue talks with
the government broke down.
Another 20,000 jobs in the supply
chain were put at risk by the collapse of
the talks between the government and
British Steel’s owner, Greybull, prompting
a parliamentary inquiry.
The company was transferred to the
Official Receiver because British Steel, its
shareholders and the government were
not able to, or would not, support the
business. The Official Receiver said it had
CUSTOMEM BECOMES PURAFFINITY
A spin-out from Imperial College
London, that develops advanced
materials for selectively removing
target chemical compounds from water, has
announced an oversubscribed seed round of
£2.8m from leading sustainability investors. In
conjunction, it is rebranding and changing its
name from ‘CustoMem’ to ‘Puraffinity’.
Puraffinity is currently developing
a range of adsorbent media materials,
targeted at removing per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from
water.
“By successfully raising seed capital
finance, we can accelerate our scale up and
deploy our technology in global markets
that are in immediate need of a solution to
the PFAS problem,” said Puraffinity CEO,
Henrik Hagemann. “We are pinpointing
our efforts at industries facing the most
severe contamination problems, such
as airports, military bases and chemical
manufacturing. This stems in many cases
from extensive use of firefighting foams and
the infiltration of these into groundwater
sources that now require treatment.”
Trials with one of Europe’s busiest
airports will be commencing in the autumn.
received “several” bids for the firm, but
described Ataer, Oyak’s investment arm,
as its “preferred buyer”.
Ataer owns nearly 50% of Erdemir,
Turkey's biggest steel producer, which
employs 11,530 people. Together, Ataerowned
companies make about a quarter
of Turkey's steel, making it the thirdlargest
producer in Europe, according to
the firm’s site.
The news was welcomed by UK
Steel’s, general secretary, Gareth Stace:
“British Steel’s production facilities in
Scunthorpe and the North East represent
one third of the UK’s steel production
and are a major strategic asset to our
country.”
But he called on the government to
partner with the steel industry “to help
deliver a level playing field” by subsidising
energy prices and lowering business rates.
In addition, the company is discussing
collaborations and partnerships with
several companies in the global water
space, to accelerate go-to-market plans and
meet an ambitious growth agenda.
26 www.materialsforengineering.co.uk Autumn 2019
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