Steel firm insolvency on hold over possible buyer

A South Yorkshire steel company has avoided insolvency for the moment after a potential buyer was found, the High Court has heard.

Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), part of the Liberty Steel Group founded by Sanjeev Gupta, employs 1,450 people and has plants in Rotherham and Sheffield.

Lawyers representing SSUK said at a hearing on Wednesday that "urgent meetings" had been taking place with a "third party purchaser".

Insolvency and Companies Court judge Sebastian Prentis adjourned a winding up petition for eight weeks until 16 July to allow time for the sale of the company to go through.

Following the hearing, Jeffrey Kabel, Liberty Steel chief transformation officer, said the court's decision was a "positive development".

The company would use the time to "finalise options, including a sale of the business" while continuing its debt restructuring plans, Mr Kabel said.

"We remain committed to finding the right solution that preserves EAF [electric arc furnace] steelmaking in the UK, a vital national asset serving strategic supply chains," he said.

"We recognise that change is essential to set the business on a positive trajectory and provide certainty for our creditors, employees and stakeholders."

Mr Kabel said the company would use the time afforded by the adjournment to engage in "intensive discussions" to achieve an outcome which "best serves the strategic interests of the business".

He added that the company had been involved in "complex debt restructuring" since the collapse of Greensill Capital in 2021, the principal financial backer of Liberty Steel's owner GFG Alliance.

Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of steelworkers' union Community, said on Tuesday that workers had run out of patience and called for Mr Gupta to "invest in the business or step aside".

Mr Rickhuss said: "Failed restructuring plans and broken promises from the company have become a familiar demoralising pattern, and things simply can't go on as they are.

"New, responsible ownership is needed to give the business the brighter future it needs and deserves, and that can only be achieved with a decisive change at the top."

Marie Tidball, Labour MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, backed these calls, saying the Stocksbridge site needed "new, competent ownership".

A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said it would "closely monitor" developments, but that it was ultimately for the company to manage commercial decisions.

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