View source for Liberty Steel Group

{{Short description|British industrial and metals company}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Liberty Steel Group Holdings UK Ltd
| logo = Liberty House logo.png
| type =
| founder = [[Sanjeev Gupta]]
| footnotes =
| foundation = {{start date and age|1992}}
| location_city = [[London]]
| location_country = England
| key_people = Jon Bolton (Chief Executive)
| products = Steel<br />Aluminium<br />Scrap metal<br />Engineering
| num_employees = 4,500 (2017)<ref>{{cite news|last=Monaghan|first=Angela|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/tata-deal-with-liberty-house-saves-1700-uk-steel-jobs|title=Tata deal with Liberty House saves 1,700 UK steel jobs|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=2 May 2017|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref>
| homepage = {{nowrap|{{URL|https://www.libertysteelgroup.com}}}}
}}
''' Liberty Steel Group Holdings UK Ltd''' (LSG), which is also referred to as '''Liberty House''' or '''Liberty House UK''', is a British industrial and metals company founded in the United Kingdom in 1992 by industrialist [[Sanjeev Gupta]]. It is headquartered in [[London]], England,<ref>{{cite web|title=Company Overview of Liberty House Ltd.|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=141454067|website=[[Bloomberg News]]|publisher=Bloomberg|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref> and has offices in [[Dubai]], [[Singapore]] and [[Hong Kong]].
The holding company of Liberty Steel, '''Liberty House Group PTE Ltd''' is based in [[Singapore]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://libertysteelgroup.com/legals/privacy-policy/|title=Privacy Policy}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|url=https://libertysteelgroup.com/app/uploads/2020/04/15-04-2020_en.pdf  |date=15 April 2021 |title=LIBERTY Steel Group appoints global leadership team and independent board members |publisher=Liberty House Group|accessdate=29 May 2021}}</ref> The company focuses on ferrous and non-ferrous metal trading, metals recycling, steel and aluminium production, and engineering products and services.<ref name=propalh>{{Cite web|url=http://www.libertyhousegroup.com/|title=Liberty House - A global industrial and metals group|website=www.libertyhousegroup.com|language=en|access-date=2017-05-30}}</ref><ref name=lspropa>{{cite news |title=Our Locations |url=https://libertysteelgroup.com/uk/our-locations/ |access-date=3 April 2021 |publisher=Liberty Steel Group}}</ref> Gupta controls it through his vehicle [[GFG Alliance]].
==History==
LHG was founded by Sanjeev Gupta in 1992.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}
LHG, together with the [[SIMEC Group]], part of the [[GFG Alliance]], purchased the [[Lochaber]] [[aluminium]] smelter plant as well as the [[Laggan Dam]] from [[Rio Tinto (corporation)|Rio Tinto]] in November 2016.<ref name=atdt>{{cite news|last1=Tovey|first1=Alan|title=Rio Tinto to sell Scottish aluminium smelter to Liberty for £330m|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/11/23/rio-tinto-sell-scottish-aluminium-smelter-liberty-330m/|access-date=12 March 2017|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=23 November 2016}}</ref>
In February 2017, LHG agreed to purchase the specialty steel division of [[Tata Steel Europe]] for £100 million. The purchase included the division's facilities in [[Rotherham]], [[Stocksbridge]] and [[Brinsworth]] in [[South Yorkshire]] and [[Wednesbury]] in the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]].<ref name=tataft>{{cite news|title=Tata sells speciality steel to Liberty House for £100m|url=https://www.ft.com/content/1bfe710a-eeca-11e6-930f-061b01e23655|access-date=12 March 2017 |work=[[Financial Times]]|date=9 February 2017}}</ref>
In July 2017, LHG purchased [[South Australia]]n steelmaker [[Arrium]]<ref name=abcau>[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-05/arrium-to-be-sold-to-british-consortium/8679960 Whyalla steelmaker Arrium to be sold to British company Liberty House] ''[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]'' 5 July 2017</ref> which was rebadged LibertyOneSteel for the first year of ownership and is now Liberty Steel.<ref name=forbes>{{Cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrystanpaul/2018/03/21/why-sanjeev-gupta-may-just-be-the-worlds-most-ambitious-industrialist/#5aa2afb0252d |date=21 March 2018 |first=Chrystan |last=Paul |title=Why Sanjeev Gupta May Just Be The World's Most Ambitious Industrialist |work=[[Forbes]]}}</ref>
In October 2019, GFG Alliance promised to merge its steel assets into Liberty Steel Group by year end.<ref name=cblib>{{cite news |last1=Bone |first1=Carrie |title=Liberty Steel assets to merge into single global group, to adopt neutral carbon business strategy |url=https://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/3901633/Liberty-Steel-assets-to-merge-into-single-global-group-to-adopt-neutral-carbon-business-strategy.html |agency=Fastmarkets|publisher=Euromoney Global Limited |date=30 October 2019}}</ref>{{Update inline|date=March 2024}}
In 2020, LHG received [[European Union]] approval to purchase the [[Duffel]], [[Belgium]] plant of aluminium smelter operator [[Aleris]] which cleared the way for the purchase of Aleris by [[Novelis]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Novelis closes on Aleris purchase |newspaper=[[Argus Media]]|date= 14 April 2020|url= https://www.argusmedia.com/news/2096185-novelis-closes-on-aleris-purchase }}</ref>
On 19 February 2021 [[ThyssenKrupp]] ended discussions with Liberty Steel, which had proposed to take over the former's steel unit.<ref name=mmtk>{{cite news |last1=Rivituso |first1=Christopher |title=ThyssenKrupp ends talks with Liberty Steel over potential steel unit takeover |url=https://agmetalminer.com/2021/02/19/thyssenkrupp-ends-talks-with-liberty-steel-over-potential-steel-unit-takeover/ |publisher=MetalMiner |date=19 February 2021}}</ref> ThyssenKrupp has sought €1.5 billion for its steel assets but, given ThyssenKrupp €960 million [[Earnings before interest and taxes|EBIT]] loss in 2020, Liberty had sought to acquire the unit for a reverse payment.<ref name=mmtk/>
On 31 March 2021 [[Credit Suisse]] filed insolvency proceedings against Liberty Commodities (a LHG subsidiary) in a London court. The action was brought by a unit of another bank, [[Citigroup]], which was acting under instruction from Credit Suisse. The Swiss bankers are on the hook for a $10 billion fund part of which was invested in [[Greensill Capital]] which had placed $3.6 billion in LHG parent company GFG, part of which had funnelled down to LCL. The balance sheet of Credit Suisse would absorb significant damage as a result.<ref name=kmcs>{{cite news |last1=Makortoff |first1=Kalyeena |title=Credit Suisse aims at wind-up orders for Gupta's Liberty arm |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/31/credit-suisse-aims-at-wind-up-orders-for-guptas-liberty-arm |work=The Guardian|date=31 March 2021}}</ref>
On 2 April 2021, Gupta claimed that none of its plants would close under his watch as he raced to refinance his business after the collapse of financial backer Greensill. Liberty Steel had 3,000 employees, while GFG Alliance had another 2,000 in other UK metals and engineering businesses.<ref name=bbc1>{{cite news |title=Liberty Steel boss: Plants won't shut on my watch |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56595046 |work=[[BBC News]]|date=2 April 2021}}</ref> In April 2021, [[Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy]] [[Kwasi Kwarteng]] rejected a request to bail LSG out.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56733981 Liberty Steel: Kwarteng defends rejecting request for £170m bailout] ''BBC News'' 13 April 2021</ref> In February 2022, [[HM Revenue & Customs]] sought winding up petitions against four LSG subsidiaries.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60335647 Four Gupta steel firms face winding up orders] ''BBC News'' 10 February 2022</ref>
In November 2024, Liberty Steel initiated a restructuring plan for its UK-based Speciality Steel division (SSUK) in a bid to reduce its significant debt load. Despite potential impacts on creditors, it has been reported that the plan will not affect the 1,500 employees of SSUK.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Steel tycoon Gupta heads for court to restructure UK arm |url=https://news.sky.com/story/steel-tycoon-gupta-heads-for-court-to-restructure-uk-arm-13252562 |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Sky News |language=en}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{official website|https://www.libertysteelgroup.com}}
[[Category:1992 establishments in England]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1992]]
[[Category:Steel companies based in London]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1992]]
[[Category:Aluminium smelters]]
[[Category:Steel companies of the United Kingdom]]