LONDON – Liberty Steel, owned by commodities tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, said on Thursday it plans to suspend operations at two British plants and trim output at others due to high power prices.
The restructuring may result in up to 440 job losses, Liberty Steel added in a statement.
Liberty Steel is part of Gupta’s family conglomerate, GFG Alliance, which has been refinancing its cash-starved businesses in steel, aluminium and energy after supply chain finance firm Greensill filed for insolvency in March 2021.
The Liberty Steel plants at Newport, Wales and West Bromwich near Birmingham will be idled while primary steel output will be reduced at Rotherham in northern England, the company said.
“The production of some commodity grade products at Rotherham and downstream mills has become unviable in the short term due to high energy costs and imports.”
Liberty Steel hoped to restart production when the market and operating conditions allowed, it added.
The Liberty Steel group, which has operations in Britain, Europe, the United States, Australia and Asia, said last November it had reached a deal to restructure much of its debt.
