Liberty Steel crisis latest: Sajeev Gupta puts more plants up for sale; Bank of England suspected Gupta’s bank in 2019; and Ian Carrotte says collapse is inevitable
The likelihood that Liberty Steel will eventually collapse seemed more likely today after the effective owner businessman Sanjeev Gupta put seven UK steel plants up for sale.
Writing in the Daily Mail this week Lucy White explained the sale was an attempt to pay off a long list of creditors. She reported: “The troubled metals tycoon, who is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), wants to get rid of the giant speciality steel plant in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, which employs 762. He will also look to sell plants in West Bromwich and Brinsworth, South Yorkshire, which together employ another 268 workers, as he attempts to hold the core of his business together.”
ICSM’s Ian Carrotte has said previously that Sajeev Gupta’s business empire is built on sand and is likely to collapse with the evidence to support this opinion coming from the Government as they turned down a request for a £170m bailout due to the ‘opaque’ nature of the businesses.
He said: “It’s like a slow-motion car crash. Gupta does not have enough cash flow to service the debts he has accumulated. Liberty Steel used Greensill to factor invoices but they have gone bust so he is desperate. It’s a classic case where a firm is effectively insolvent and they fail to take responsibility for the situation and call in the administrators. The general feeling from outsiders is the administrators will discover things which the owner does not want them to find.”
The BBC reported that Gupta's GFG Group, was probed by the Bank of England in 2019. The Wyelands Bank which is part of his business group is facing possible liquidation, while Liberty Steel’s owner GFG is also facing collapse after the liquidation of its biggest lender, Greensill Capital.
Adding pressure is the inquiry launched by the Serious Fraud Office into aspects of Gupta’s business dealings.
Ian Carrotte said: “At stake is millions of pounds of tax payer cash, thousands of jobs and millions owed to suppliers who are facing disaster if Gupta fails to pay up.”
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For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk