Steel tycoon Gupta in last-ditch bid to rescue UK empire

The steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta is mounting a last-ditch bid to salvage his British operations after seeing an emergency plea for government support rejected.

Sky News has learnt that Mr Gupta's Liberty Speciality Steels UK (SSUK) arm is seeking to adjourn a winding-up petition scheduled to be heard in court on Wednesday. The petition is reported to have been brought by Harsco Metals Group, a supplier of materials and labour to SSUK, and is said to be supported by other trade creditors.

Unless the adjournment is granted, Mr Gupta faces the prospect of seeing SSUK forced into compulsory liquidation. That would raise questions over the future of roughly 1,450 more steel industry jobs, weeks after the government stepped in to rescue the larger British Steel amid a row with its Chinese owner over the future of its Scunthorpe steelworks.

If Mr Gupta's operations do enter compulsory liquidation, the Official Receiver would appoint a special manager to run the operations while a buyer is sought. A Whitehall insider said talks had taken place in recent days involving Mr Gupta's executives and the Insolvency Service.

Steel industry sources said the government could conceivably be interested in reuniting the Rotherham plant of SSUK with British Steel's Scunthorpe site because of the industrial synergies between them, although it was unclear whether any such discussions had been held. Mr Gupta is said to have explored whether he could persuade the government to step in and support SSUK using the legislation enacted last month to take control of British Steel's operations.

Whitehall insiders said, however, that Mr Gupta's overtures had been rebuffed. He had previously sought government aid during the pandemic but that plea was also rejected by ministers.

The SSUK division operates across sites including at Rotherham in south Yorkshire and Bolton in Lancashire. It makes highly engineered steel products for use in sectors such as aerospace, automotive and oil and gas.

A restructuring plan due to be launched last week was abandoned at the eleventh hour after failing to secure support from creditors of Greensill, the collapsed supply chain finance provider to which Mr Gupta was closely tied. Under that plan, creditors, including HM Revenue and Customs, would have been forced to write off a significant chunk of the money they are owed.

The company said last week that it had invested nearly £200m in the last five years into the UK steel industry, but had faced "significant challenges due to soaring energy costs and an over-reliance on cheap imports, negatively impacting the performance of all UK steel companies". It adds: "The court's ability to sanction the plan depended on finalisation of an agreement with creditors.

"This has not proved possible in an acceptable timeframe, and so Liberty has decided to withdraw the plan ahead of the sanction hearing on May 15 and will now quickly consider alternative options." One source close to Liberty Steel acknowledged that it was running out of time to salvage the business. They said, however, that an adjournment of Wednesday's hearing to consider the winding-up petition could yet buy the company sufficient breathing space to stitch together an alternative rescue deal.

A Liberty Steel spokesperson said on Tuesday: "Discussions continue with creditors. "Liberty understands the concern this will create for Speciality Steel UK colleagues and remains committed to doing all it can to maintain the Speciality Steel UK business." The Insolvency Service has also been contacted for comment.

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: "We continue to closely monitor developments around Liberty Steel, including any public hearings, which are of course a matter for the company. "It is ultimately for Liberty to manage commercial decisions on the future of its companies, and we hope it succeeds with its plans to continue on a sustainable basis.".