Around 50 jobs have been saved in the Black Country after Tata Steel agreed a £100 million deal to offload part of its troubled º£½ÇÊÓƵ operation.
The company, which has been trying has sold its speciality steels division to commodities trading group Liberty House Group.
The portfolio comprises service centres in Wednesbury and Bolton, several operations in South Yorkshire and bases in Suzhou and Xi'an, China.
Speciality steels directly employs about 1,700 people making steels for the aerospace, automotive and the oil & gas industries.
The deal when the two companies signed a 'Letter of Intent' in order to enter a period of exclusive negotiations.
Bimlendra Jha, chief executive of Tata Steel º£½ÇÊÓƵ, which is part of the same group as Jaguar Land Rover, said: "This is good news for speciality steels and for Tata Steel's core business in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ.
"For speciality steels, which is largely independent of our European strip products supply chain, this is an important step forward in securing a future for the business under new ownership.
"We will be handing over a business which has been transformed following difficult decisions to restructure and refocus on higher-value markets.
"Employees, trade unions and the management team have worked incredibly hard at speciality steels to improve its performance and I'm delighted to say that the business is now on an improvement track which will enable it to thrive in the future."
Tata Steel is also in discussions with the British Steel Pension Scheme trustee and the Pension Regulator to develop a structural solution for its º£½ÇÊÓƵ pension scheme in the coming months.
The deal does not include its coated narrow strip plant in Walsall.
In 2015, Liberty House Group saving around 300 jobs in Oldbury and Bilston.
