Summit over jobs as Sanjeev Gupta empire reels

Troubled steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta will hold crisis talks with unions tomorrow as fears grow that his empire is teetering on the brink of collapse. 

Thousands of jobs in Britain’s steel industry are thought to be at risk after the biggest lender to Gupta’s GFG Alliance, Greensill Capital, was thrown into turmoil and is now expected to go into administration. 

The emergency summit with unions comes as bidders are reported to be circling Gupta’s plants – amid speculation he may have to resort to a fire sale. 

Crisis: 762 jobs are at risk at Sanjeev Gupta’s Stocksbridge plant

But one site in particular, a factory that makes aerospace parts in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire, could become the first victim of cuts after the pandemic hammered demand for its products. 

With the downturn in the aerospace industry, it is not clear if any buyers would be keen to snap up the Stocksbridge plant, which employs 762 people. 

The GFG Alliance is a loose collection of companies that includes Liberty Steel – Britain’s third-largest steel maker with 3,000 workers at 11 sites. Gupta, 50, became the ‘saviour of UK steel’ after a spending spree that saw him buy up plants in Rotherham, Stocksbridge, Newport and Hartlepool. 

But the Indian-born British tycoon also went on a global acquisition binge, buying steel and aluminium factories in Australia and the US. The GFG Alliance has racked up an estimated £4billion of debt to lenders, including £3billion to Greensill alone. 

Unions are desperate to find out if the collapse of Greensill will hit Liberty Steel’s UK operations, and have been frustrated by the lack of transparency. 

A spokesman for steel union Community said: ‘We will be meeting with Liberty early this week to seek assurances. We take confidence from the fact this is a vital strategic business with a world-class workforce producing the best steels money can buy.’ 

The GFG Alliance declined to say where Gupta is and where he will dial into the Zoom meeting from – but according to some media reports he is in Dubai. 

Gupta has been criticised for the GFG Alliance’s lack of transparency for years – with sceptics saying the group’s complex structure and its opaque accounting make it impossible to tell how the company is performing. 

For months Liberty Steel has been preparing to release a full set of accounts for the global business – but these have been delayed. 

Greensill crumbled after Credit Suisse wound up £7.2billion of funds. Bankers were said to be concerned about financing linked to Gupta. Greensill was put under further pressure last night after its chairman and two other board members resigned.