TPi March 2016

news business & market

Liberty managing director Sanjeev Gupta (left) at the Oldbury plant

Targeting opportunities with further Caparo acquisitions

Liberty recently restarted production of hot rolled coil at its rollingmill in Newport, South Wales, and hopes eventually to recommence melting operations at the same site, which has an arc furnace already in place. The rolling mill has current capacity to produce around 1mn tonnes of coil a year. Britain’s largest union, Unite, welcomed the further sale of businesses from the Caparo Industries Group to the Gupta family. The latest sales mean that more than 1,000 jobs have been retained since the steel group called in administrators PwC. Unite national officer Harish Patel said, “This is further welcome news. The Caparo workforce is world class and it’s good to see that the new owners recognise that retaining and investing skills is crucial to the business’s success.”

The move, which follows the Guptas’ purchase of businesses in Caparo’s Tubular Solutions division – now renamed Liberty Tubular Solutions – marks a widening of the family’s strategy to invest in the future of UK manufacturing and engineering. Liberty House Group managing director Sanjeev Gupta said the latest acquisitions represented a major opportunity to preserve and develop what he described as the cream of British engineering expertise. “These businesses contain some world- leading knowledge and skill that has the potential to contribute to a significant engineering revival in the UK. Despite current difficulties, advanced engineering can create enormous value for the UK economy and I’m convinced that, based on the right business model, operations like these have strong growth potential in the UK and across various markets internationally where Liberty is present.”

The Gupta family, whose wider interests include the international energy, metals, industrial and trading groups SIMEC and Liberty House, has acquired further businesses from within the former Caparo Industries plc, as it targets major growth opportunities in the advanced engineering sectors. In an agreement with administrators PwC, the family acquired parts of Caparo’s advanced engineering products and precision strip businesses based at sites across the UK’s West Midlands. The engineering businesses – now called Liberty Advanced Engineering Products – have a high-profile customer base, with products including anti- vibration systems for naval vessels and high performance braking systems for NASCAR, London Taxis, US yellow school buses, the upgraded Warrior Land Rover, and the T1 Evolution hyper car.

liberty House Group – UK info@libertyhouseuk.com www.libertyhouseuk.com

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