This week's collapse of Sanjeev Gupta's Yorkshire steel operations brought relief for some, echoing insolvency steps at 15 of his companies. The government has taken over Liberty Steel's South Yorkshire plants to protect 1,450 jobs.
A disparate collection of steelworks in Australia, the UK, Romania and the Czech Republic at the start of the year had two things in common: they were part of Gupta's metals empire, and they had fallen silent. The idling plants were emblematic of the tycoon's struggles.
Born in India before starting a commodities trading business at university, Gupta was once nicknamed the 'saviour of steel' for his plans to turn around struggling plants. Yet things looked very different this week, as he finally lost control of one of his key UK businesses. London's High Court ruled on Thursday that Speciality Steel UK (SSUK) should enter compulsory liquidation as it was 'hopelessly insolvent', with debts of several hundred million pounds but only £650,000 in its account.
Gupta did not witness the SSUK liquidation in person; instead he remained in Sydney, according to his company. However, Jeffrey Kabel, the Liberty Steel executive at court, insisted that Gupta was 'sad', but also that he was not done yet. Gupta will try to buy back SSUK from insolvency, Kabel said, claiming that Liberty had the backing of investment manager BlackRock.
Yet the court proceedings and workers around the world present a picture of an industrialist running out of time and money, with creditors and worried governments closing in, and production slumping or stopping completely. An investigation by the UK's Serious Fraud Office is ongoing.
Since the collapse in 2021 of Greensill Capital, his key lender, Gupta's businesses have been scrambling to find new financing and to renegotiate debts. Promised investments in new green technologies have not materialised, and much-vaunted turnaround plans have stuttered.
