The Chinese proprietor of Stemcor, the historic British metal dealer, is exploring a sale lower than a yr after it final modified palms.

Sky News has learnt that Stemcor, which was based by the daddy of Dame Margaret Hodge, the veteran Labour MP, has been the topic of discussions a few recent change of possession in latest weeks.

The firm, which is now headquartered in Jersey, has been owned by ShouYe Holdings, a Hong Kong-based entity, since final July.

It was beforehand a part of Cedar Holdings Group, a mainland Chinese firm which was reported early final yr to be struggling to repay its money owed.

Stemcor was based in 1951 by Hans Oppenheimer, a German immigrant to the UK who constructed it into a world powerhouse in metal buying and selling and stockholding.

However, it bumped into monetary problem after the 2008 monetary disaster, and was compelled right into a radical debt restructuring.

It was finally break up into two corporations, with the opposite - Moorgate Industries - principally comprising property in India.

Dame Margaret, a long-standing critic of the tax avoidance ways employed by multinational corporations, was reported in 2015 to have been a beneficiary of the winding-up of a Liechtenstein basis which held shares in Stemcor.

She stated on the time that she had "paid all relevant taxes in full".

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Neither she nor any members of her household maintain any residual curiosity in Stemcor.

Stemcor declined to remark.