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Liberty Steel UK to restructure business after Deal with Creditors

Liberty Steel, which is owned by commodities tycoon SanjeevGupta has reached an accord with major creditors following the raising of capital. This agreement paves the way for restructuring its British business.

Liberty is part Gupta’s family conglomerate GFG Alliance. The company has refinanced its steel, aluminum and energy businesses after its financier, supply chain financing firm Greensill filed for bankruptcy in March 2021.

A statement stated that the capital increase included a $350m bond issued by one of their Australian units via Jefferies, and a term loan of $350m asset-backed from BlackRock and Silver Point Finance.

The creditor agreement will allow Liberty, whose British steel business is primarily based on debt, to consolidate it under a new corporate structure and entity.

Liberty, which operates nine sites across Britain, will double the melting capacity of its Rotherham facility in northern England, to 2,000,000 metric tons per year.

Liberty cut production at Rotherham and two British plants in January of last year due to high electricity prices.

Liberty has also operations in Europe and Australia.

Liberty Ostrava, a Czech company, had announced that it would restart the blast furnace and increase production in January.

In 2021, the Serious Fraud Office of Britain opened an investigation on alleged fraud, fraudulent trades and money laundering by GFG Alliance.

The company has consistently denied any wrongdoings and promised full cooperation. Reporting by Eric Onstad. (Editing by Jane Merriman.)