Latest news with #SanjeevGupta
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
HMRC files winding up petition against Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty Steel's pipes business
British tax authorities have filed a winding up petition against Liberty Steel's business making pipes in northern England in the latest sign of the pressure on the metals empire controlled by the tycoon Sanjeev Gupta. Court filings list HM Revenue and Customs as the petitioner in a winding up petition against Liberty Pipes (Hartlepool) that was filed on Tuesday. The listing suggests that the petition relates to an unpaid VAT bill. However, Liberty said thateverything the business owed to HMRC had been settled, and that there was no threat to the Hartlepool operations, which continue to operate and employ 178 people. A spokesperson said: 'Liberty Pipes Hartlepool has no outstanding payments due to HMRC. We are in touch with HMRC to have the petition removed.' The petition is nevertheless the latest sign of the increasing financial pressure on Liberty Steel, which is a key part of Gupta's GFG Alliance, an informal group of metals and energy companies stretching from Australia via Singapore and Romania to northern England. Gupta's companies have been in trouble since the 2021 failure of Greensill Capital, which collapsed after lending GFG about $5bn (£3.7bn). Gupta has been engaged in long-running talks with the administrators of Greensill, who are trying to recover the money. GFG has been under investigation by the UK's Serious Fraud Office since 2021 in relation to the Greensill financing. The company and Gupta have denied wrongdoing. Gupta is also being prosecuted by Companies House over the failure to file accounts for more than 70 UK businesses – including those of Liberty Pipes (Hartlepool). He has pleaded not guilty. Other key parts of Liberty Steel's operations in the UK face the prospect of closure unless they can find new funding. An insolvency hearing postponed to later this month will decide the fate of Speciality Steel UK, which employs 1,450 people in South Yorkshire at an electric arc furnace at Rotherham, and another factory in Stocksbridge, near Sheffield. The Guardian revealed last month that ministers are considering stepping in to prevent those sites from closing should they fall into administration. The Hartlepool factory in County Durham has the capacity to make 250,000 tonnes of pipes a year, to be used by oil and gas pipelines as well as structural hollow sections for buildings. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion However, its operations are likely to have been disrupted by difficulties in other parts of the business, as it has previously relied on plate steel sourced from Liberty Dalzell, a plate mill in Motherwell, near Edinburgh. The Guardian revealed in May that Dalzell had not produced any products since July 2024. The last accounts filed for the Hartlepool company, for the year to March 2020, showed a small profit. The accounts also showed that despite the profit, the company had net liabilities of £4.7m, and suggested that it was reliant on its Singapore-incorporated parent company, Liberty House Groupe, to keep operating. HMRC was approached for comment.
The Star
5 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Consortium pushes for Whyalla plant
A view of the interior of a part of the BlueScope steelworks, Port Kembla, Australia February 9, 2024. REUTERS/Lewis Jackson/File Photo SYDNEY: Australia's BlueScope Steel says it has assembled a heavyweight consortium of global steelmakers to bid for Sanjeev Gupta's troubled Whyalla Steelworks, over a month after the local government formally opened a sale process. The group, comprising Japan's Nippon Steel, India's JSW Steel and South Korea's Posco, brings a combined market value of A$115bil (US$74.4bil), and is eyeing the South Australian plant as a future hub for low-emissions iron production for domestic and export markets. The consortium has lodged a non-binding expression of interest but has yet to submit a formal bid. Whyalla Steelworks was placed in administration in February, after its operating company collapsed under tens of millions in debt. The Australian and South Australian governments stepped in with a joint A$1.9bil rescue package to safeguard local jobs and preserve a key piece of industrial infrastructure. Australia formally opened the sale process in June, citing strong global interest from companies seeking a foothold in the emerging green steel economy. Gupta's family conglomerate, GFG Alliance, was not immediately reachable for a Reuters request for comment. — Reuters
Sky News AU
5 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Saving thousands of local jobs amongst ‘most important' parts of Whyalla Steelworks sale, McKell Institute CEO says
Preserving thousands of local jobs and skills is one of the 'most important' aspects of the Whyalla Steelworks' potential sale, a thinktank leader has declared. BlueScope on Monday announced it was partnering with Japanese, Indian and Korean steelmakers to make a bid for the Whyalla Steelworks after it was forced into administration earlier this year. The steelworks, which employs 1,100 workers directly and supports an additional 2,000 in related industries, supplies 75 per cent of the country's structural steel and remains the only domestic producer of long steel products. Whyalla received a $2.4b government bailout package in February from the federal and South Australian governments after becoming "irredeemable" under British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta's company, GFG Alliance. About $500 million was set aside for transforming Whyalla into a green steel powerhouse. The McKell Institute's chief executive Edward Cavanough said maintaining the Whyalla Steelworks and the local industry surrounding it was critical for ensuring Australia's green steel future. 'The fact is we can't get to a green steel future if we lose the Whyalla plant in the first place,' Mr Cavanough told Business Now. 'You're not going to be able to recreate that out of thin air. 'The most important thing initially is preserving what is there, recapitalising the plant so it's actually sustainable and making sure that the skills in Whyalla aren't lost. 'If we lose all of those then there's certainly no hope for a green steel future, let alone any steel future.' He also stressed the expression of interest from the consortium, which featured major international steel makers, was a 'really positive step' for the steelworks. 'It was a really big risk by the government to intervene earlier in the year,' Mr Cavanough said. 'I think the fact that we have the likes of BlueScope putting their hand up and saying there is a future here is really, really positive.' BlueScope is joined by Japan's Nippon Steel, Indian multinational JSW Steel and Korea's POSCO in its bid to snap up Whyalla and turn it into a green steel maker. BlueScope told the ASX on Monday: 'The consortium has identified Whyalla as a prospective location for future production of lower emissions iron in Australia for both domestic and export markets, with the potential to play an important role in the decarbonisation of the global steelmaking industry." KordaMentha, an Asia-Pacific advisory firm, was appointed as the steel mill's administrator after the government forced its shutdown. The plant has been plagued with issues including frequent shutdowns of its coal-fired blast furnace, delays in necessary upgrades, and a lack of stable financial backing. The company owed tens of millions of dollars in unpaid royalties to the SA government and an additional $15 million to SA Water. Mr Gupta purchased the plant for $700m in 2017 with ambitions to transform it into a green steel plant by using hydrogen. The BlueScope-led consortium revealing its interest in acquiring Whyalla about six months after its forced administration comes as a relief for many as it originally took 17 months for Mr Gupta to purchase it.
AU Financial Review
6 days ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
‘Formidable' Whyalla bid could mean more government cash
BlueScope Steel investors have backed the high-powered consortium it is leading to buy the struggling Whyalla steelworks, saying it is well-placed to secure significant taxpayer funding above the $2.4 billion the Albanese government has already committed to keeping the plant operating. The world's third-largest steelmaker confirmed reports in The Australian Financial Review that it was exploring a bid for the steelworks – owned by British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta until officials in South Australia stepped in and appointed administrators earlier this year – with Japan's Nippon Steel, South Korea's POSCO and India's JSW Group.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Global consortium led by Australia's BlueScope weighs takeover of embattled Whyalla steelworks
Australia's largest steelmaker, BlueScope, is part of an international consortium considering a takeover of the embattled Whyalla steelworks, which was stripped from the control of British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta earlier this year. A consortium consisting of the Australian steelmaker, Japan's Nippon Steel, Indian company JSW Steel and South Korean manufacturer POSCO, has submitted a non-binding expression of interest in the South Australian steelworks, BlueScope told shareholders on Monday. 'Any decision to make an offer to acquire and develop expanded operations at Whyalla would be subject to due diligence and the consortium members' return on investment hurdles,' BlueScope said in a statement. Sign up: AU Breaking News email 'The consortium has identified Whyalla as a prospective location for future production of lower emissions iron in Australia for both domestic and export markets, with the potential to play an important role in the decarbonisation of the global steelmaking industry.' POSCO led a 2017 bid to take over Whyalla, but was outbid by Gupta. BlueScope, which operates the Port Kembla steelworks south of Sydney, said there was no obligation to turn the consortium's expression of interest into a formal bid. Whyalla is one of only two major integrated steel projects in Australia and the only local manufacturer of rail. It is seen as a highly sensitive project, politically, given the steelworks is a major employer in a regional city creating a product not made anywhere else in Australia. Earlier in 2025, the steelworks received a $2.4bn state and federal government bailout package to help keep it afloat and save jobs, after the South Australian government removed control from Gupta's GFG Alliance amid mounting debts. GFG had pledged to decarbonise the plant, which included a plan to use renewable energy-produced hydrogen in the manufacturing process to make sought-after green steel. But the promised investment never arrived. When administrators were appointed in February, the steelworks was found to have racked up more than $1.3bn in debts, including unpaid employee entitlements. A GFG spokesperson said at the time the operation faced 'significant operational and financial challenges' due to external and internal factors. Many of the financial problems facing Gupta's global steel empire are linked to the 2021 collapse of its primary financier Greensill Capital, an event that rattled his global steel-making businesses, which include operations in the UK, continental Europe and the US. The SA premier, Peter Malinauskas, said on Monday that more than 15 national and international parties had passed the final expression-of-interest phase in a positive sign for the steelmaker's transition to new ownership. The sales adviser will now solicit indicative bids from shortlisted parties that expressed interest, with no preferred bidder at this stage. 'The state government's objective has been to transition the ownership of the steelworks to a new credible owner who can invest in Whyalla's future,' Malinauskas said in a statement. 'This strong interest is a positive sign for the future of the Whyalla steelworks and for the future of sovereign steelmaking capability in Australia.'
