SEVERAL potential buyers of the ASW Sheerness steel mill had registered an interest by Friday's deadline, say administrative receivers Richard Hill and Roger Oldfield, of KPMG Corporate Recovery.

The final call was extended for a week to allow all interested parties to lodge their bids for the businesses and assets of ASW.

The workforce is expecting to find out who the mill's new owners will be during the second week of September.

Mr Oldfield said: "We have received a number of indicative offers, which will each require clarification to allow us to compare them on a like-for-like basis.

"We anticipate that this process will take us several days, as it appears that there may be some potentially complex issues to be addressed before the offerers can commit to final and best offers on Friday, August 30."

Peter Holsten, of the local branch of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation union, said: "We have heard there's about four or five in the frame. Some want to buy us and parts of Cardiff, some want to buy just us. I am confident a buyer will be found, but it's what they do with us when they have bought us - how they will rationalise."

Meanwhile, top level meetings in Parliament are being arranged to discuss the pensions crisis at the mill where workers face losing out as a result of the company going into receivership.

Sheppey MP Derek Wyatt has pencilled Tuesday, October 15 into his diary for talks with representatives from the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Treasury and the Prime Minister's office.