Liberty House, a steel and metals group founded by Sanjeev Gupta, will acquire two of Tata Steel’s Scottish assets.
Under the deal, the Clybridge and Dalzell steel plants will first be sold to the Scottish government, and then on to Liberty House, on the same terms. Liberty House also acquired assets from Lord Swraj Paul’s Caparo Group last year, as it builds up its portfolio in the UK steel industry.
The Scottish plants have been mothballed since October last year, following Tata Steel’s decision to end plate production as part of a restructuring of its long productions division. Since the end of last year Tata Steel has been negotiations over the sale of its European long productions division with Greybull Capital, a British private equity firm. Those negotiations continue, Tata Steel said Thursday.
Liberty Steel is set to reopen, and invest in the Scottish facilities. “Clydebridge and Dalzell will fit well into our vision for an integrated, flexible and sustainable steel sector, from recycled local scrap using renewable energy making green steel, to value added downstream and engineered product,” said Gupta, the managing director of Liberty House on Thursday. “Now we must turn our attention to restoring these businesses to their former glory, steadily rebuilding their skilled workforces and customer base.”
Gupta had previously spoken to BusinessLine about Liberty Global’s interest in developing its UK business. It restarted a mothballed mill in Wales that it had acquired in 2013, late last year, retaining some 150 workers over that two-year period.
In May last year, Tata Steel created a standalone long products division, which was hailed by unions as a move that would give the business greater flexibility and independence. But in August, the Klesch Group pulled out of discussions to take over the long products division, blaming it on a failure by the British government to have a comprehensive strategy to tackle domestic and international challenges facing the industry in the UK.