British Indian Tycoon’s Speciality Steels UK Pushed into Government Control

Speciality Steels UK, the country’s third-largest steelworks part of British Indian metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta group, was on Thursday pushed into compulsory liquidation.

The UK government-run Insolvency Service confirmed it will be acting as the liquidator after a High Court ruling.

Liberty Steel said the decision to put the firm into compulsory liquidation was "irrational", which puts 1,500 jobs at risk.

“Following an application made by the Official Receiver, the court has also appointed Matthew James Cowlishaw, Hywel Phillips and Robert Fishman of Teneo Financial Advisory Limited as Special Managers of the company,” the Insolvency Service said.

“The Special Managers have been appointed to assist the Official Receiver with the liquidation. The Official Receiver will wind-up the company in accordance with his statutory duties. He also has a duty to inquire into the cause of the company’s failure and conduct of current and former directors,” it said.

Lawyers for Liberty had applied for a four-week adjournment to allow time to place the company in a "pre-pack administration", which allows an insolvent company to sell its assets to a bidder.

He wanted funding from investment giant BlackRock and Fidera, which invests in distressed companies, to buy back the business.

GFG Alliance, the holding company, said Liberty has pursued all options to make Speciality Steels UK viable, including “efficiency improvements, reorganisations, customer support, several attempts to find a buyer for the business and intensive negotiations with creditors to restructure debt liabilities”.

"The decision to push Speciality Steel UK into compulsory liquidation, especially when we have support from the world's largest asset manager to resume operations and facilitate creditor recovery, is irrational,” said Jeffrey Kabel, GFG Alliance's chief transformational officer.

"Instead, liquidation will now impose prolonged uncertainty and significant costs on UK taxpayers for settlements and related expenses, despite the availability of a commercial solution,” he said.

The GMB trade union said it was another tragedy for UK steel.