It's been an uneasy time in the communities of Scunthorpe and Teesside since British Steel gave up on its operations in May last year. Thousands of workers at the plants and associated contractors have been coming to work for the past 10 months not knowing what the future holds.

Now, China's Jingye Group has completed a buyout of the business, which has been welcomed by unions, knowing that whatever else comes down the line, most of their members will be keeping their jobs.

Three thousand two hundred workers have been offered new contracts, 100 have been found work elsewhere and 400 have been made redundant. Overall, it may be bittersweet, but it represents a win for the steel industry in the UK, the workers still at the plant, and the thousands of visiting contractors that depend on British Steel for regular work.

The deal itself is said to be worth $90 million, with the promise of UK government loans and support worth another $380 million.

But the real prize is the promise of $1.5 billion of new investment that hasn't been confirmed, but so far hasn't been contradicted by Jingye.

The Chinese multi-industrial giant has long had its eye on British Steel's capability for high-quality rail track and girder production, so called "long steel," something Jingye does not have the furnace capability to manufacture at home.

The company fought off interest from a rival Turkish fund that was also interested and also a challenge from the French government, which refuses to sell a British Steel plant in Hayange in France that makes tracks for the French rail network. At one stage, this looked like a deal-breaker but clearly that wasn't the case.

Jingye has promised "a new chapter in British steel making." The Chinese company was founded 30 years ago and has wider business interests in hotels, real estate and chemicals.