Fears for 5,000 UK Steel Jobs as Lender Nears Collapse
LONDON (Dispatches) -The principal financial backer of one of the UK’s largest industrial groups will fall into administration within hours, the BBC has learned.
Specialist bank Greensill Capital is the main lender to businessman Sanjeev Gupta’s sprawling empire, which includes Liberty Steel.
The development puts 5,000 jobs at risk at Liberty Steel and other firms.
Union officials were already due to have crisis talks with Mr Gupta on Tuesday.
The Community union said it would be seeking "assurances on behalf of our members”.
It added: "We are ready to work with all stakeholders to protect jobs and take confidence from the fact this is a vital strategic business with a world-class workforce, producing the best steels money can buy.”
Mr Gupta, who has been called the "saviour of steel”, has defied pessimists in the industry for years by buying up seemingly unloved industrial assets.
These included steel and aluminium plants that many thought could not be run profitably in the face of cut price competition from China.
Specialist bank Greensill Capital is the main lender to businessman Sanjeev Gupta’s sprawling empire, which includes Liberty Steel.
The development puts 5,000 jobs at risk at Liberty Steel and other firms.
Union officials were already due to have crisis talks with Mr Gupta on Tuesday.
The Community union said it would be seeking "assurances on behalf of our members”.
It added: "We are ready to work with all stakeholders to protect jobs and take confidence from the fact this is a vital strategic business with a world-class workforce, producing the best steels money can buy.”
Mr Gupta, who has been called the "saviour of steel”, has defied pessimists in the industry for years by buying up seemingly unloved industrial assets.
These included steel and aluminium plants that many thought could not be run profitably in the face of cut price competition from China.