Indian origin businessman to buy Whyalla Steelworks in Australia

Arrium steelworks in Whyalla had gone into voluntary administration last year with a huge debt of four billion dollars.

Sanjeev Gupta

Source: Twitter

South Australian steelmaking business Arrium is all set to be sold to a British company owned by an Indian origin businessman Mr Sanjeev Gupta.
Sanjeev Gupta
Source: Libertyhousegroup.com
Sanjeev Gupta is an Indian-born businessman who studies at Cambridge and according to , is an environment-minded billionaire.

He is the executive chairman of a London-based Liberty House Group.

Mr Gupta founded the company in 1992 as an undergraduate. This company works with steel and aluminium in advanced manufacturing and metals recycling.

He is known for finding the companies that are on their last legs and saving and relaunching those businesses. According to Liberty House website, he has acquired and relaunched 25 businesses since 2013, saving around 4,500 jobs and helping to rejuvenate the UK automotive and aerospace industries.

Now, together with his father’s energy and commodities company SIMEC Group (GFG Alliance) he is all set to save the struggling steel business Arrium in Australia. A purchase offer for Arrium was put forward on Tuesday night, which was accepted by the administrators KordaMentha. However, the sale still needs to be approved by Arrium’s Committee of Creditors and the Foreign Investments Review Board.

If the purchase offer is accepted, all Whyalla steelworkers are expected to keep their jobs.
Arrium Steeleowrks
An overview of Arrium steelwork facilities in Whyalla, South Australia, Thursday, May 4, 2017. Source: AAP Image/Lukas Coch
“The sale of the whole business is a dramatic victory for us in SA” Mr Weatherill said.
Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison welcomed the outcome, saying the process to approve the sale would be done "speedily".

Whyalla mayor and former Labor MP Lyn Breuer said news of the announcement was "such a relief" for Whyalla.
"We've been through a terrible time in the last 15 months... a lot of uncertainty, a lot of doom and gloom initially," she said
The Foreign Investment Review Board is meeting next week to make the final decision. 

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2 min read
Published 6 July 2017 2:57pm
Updated 6 July 2017 3:06pm
By Preeti K McCarthy

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