Liberty Steel to sell UK assets as it closes in on deal
Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty Steel is set to sell a number of UK assets as it holds talks with investment bank Credit Suisse about paying off its debts.
The company is planning to sell off its Stocksbridge steel plant and two other "non-core" sites as part of a restructuring the company have revealed should allow them to pay back this main creditor in full.
The company has been in crisis for the last few months owing to the collapse of its major financiers, Greensill Capital, back in March.
Read more: Liberty Steel's Gupta may secure £200m bailout
This comes following a weekend of deliberations between Gupta and representatives from Credit Suisse held in Dubai.
The bank lost more than £1 billion when Greensill went under, and Gupta has been struggling to save his business and the 5,000 jobs along its supply chain.
In a statement, Liberty Steel said: "As part of this restructuring, Liberty will look to sell its aerospace and special alloys steel business in Stocksbridge.
"Liberty has also already commenced the formal sale process of Liberty Aluminium Technologies and Liberty Pressing Solutions."
On top of its existing issues, Liberty Steel is facing, its parent group, the Gupta Family Group, is under investigation from the UK's fraud office following lobbying accusations.
The company pledged to set up a committee to restructure and refinance the group.
Credit Suisse has also agreed to pause court proceedings while the sale of the Stocksbridge plant is finalised.
The two other plants up for sale as part of the deal lay downstream from the Stocksbridge plant, and include a mill at Brinsworth and Performance Steels in West Bromwich.
The company has revealed the sale of these plants will allow them to focus their efforts on their Rotherham plant, which uses recycled scrap steel.
The company was previously seeking a £200 million bailout after their original £170 million asking price was rejected by the British government.
Read more: Liberty Steel's future in doubt following bailout rejection
The BBC reports that Credit Suisse considers the deal to be nearing closure.
However, Liberty considered the current investigations by the UK government to be a major hindrance in its restructuring scheme.
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