UK-based steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta announced the acquisition of a bankrupt steel companies AdhunikMetaliks and Zion Steel, marking its first foray into India by his GFG Alliance following previous failed attempts.
The company is said to have completed payments worth a total of Rs 425 crore ahead of a court-ordered deadline last Friday.
In 2019, the national company law appellate tribunal (NCLAT) had asked Mr. Gupta’s company to deposit at least Rs 370 crores plus other costs to proceed with the bankrupt steel companies’ acquisition time till February 14th of 2020. However, the process got delayed following a criminal charge against the Gupta Group’s on bidding for motor parts manufacturers Amtek Auto.
The company said that the immediate focus will be on reviving and restoring the facilities and operations of the two companies. Once stabilized, the business will begin its integration into the Liberty Group, which is a part of GFG Alliance.
Sanjeev Gupta, GFG Alliance’s executive chairman said, “It has been a challenging journey to get us to this stage, but we now look forward to starting work in partnership with all stakeholders to revive these plants and bring employment back”.
During October 2019, UK-based GFG Alliance consolidated its steel businesses into one global entity under the name Liberty Steel Group, which has operations in 200 locations in ten countries.
AdhunikMetaliks has an integrated steel plant located near Rourkela in Odisha, having both blast and electric arc furnaces capable of producing 0.5 million tonnes of steel per year, and a 34-megawatt captive power plant. Zion Steel is a rolling mill with a capacity of 400,000 tonnes per annum and these sites manufacture products for the automotive, energy, engineering, oil and gas sectors.
Source: The Economic Times
