47-562: Liberty Steel Group Holdings UK Ltd (LSG), which is also referred to as Liberty House or Liberty House UK , is a British industrial and metals company founded in the United Kingdom in 1992 by industrialist Sanjeev Gupta . It is headquartered in London , England, and has offices in Dubai , Singapore and Hong Kong . The holding company of Liberty Steel, Liberty House Group PTE Ltd
94-534: A Gulfstream 650 . In late 2020, Greensill began a search for a new auditor after growing too large for the firm's then auditor, Saffery Champness . KPMG , Deloitte , members of the Big Four , and smaller accounting firm BDO all declined to become Greensill's new auditor. According to its court filings, Greensill had three main businesses: supply chain financing (also called "reverse factoring" ), accounts receivables financing (also known as "factoring" ) and
141-729: A country house estate near Chepstow in Wales and have a residence in Sydney, Australia ( Bomera , a 19th-century home in Potts Point ). They have three children. Greensill Capital Greensill Capital was a financial services company based in the United Kingdom and Australia . Its main business was the provision of supply chain financing and related services. The company was founded in 2011 by Lex Greensill . It filed for insolvency protection on 8 March 2021. The firm
188-458: A major source of business. With Greensill's role as a lender through Taulia taken over by JPMorgan, Athene had fewer reasons to acquire Greensill's book of business. On 8 March 2021, Greensill filed for insolvency protection, as it found itself unable to repay a $ 140 million loan to Credit Suisse and was "hit by defaults" from Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance , one of its main customers. As of 25 March 2021, Credit Suisse executives estimated that
235-429: A possible restructuring or insolvency filing which was expected to happen within a few days. On 2 March Greensill Capital announced that it was considering selling the operating part of its business, according to a report by Bloomberg News , to Apollo Global Management or an associated firm, Athene Holdings. Greensill Capital stated the firms had a "period of exclusivity with a leading global financial institution with
282-402: A practice Greensill called "future accounts receivables finance". In traditional factoring , a firm will sell the invoices it has issued to clients to a third party; the third party then collects the money owed from those clients. In reverse factoring, a third party (in this case, Greensill) instead pays debts owed by a company to its suppliers at a slight discount, but much more quickly than
329-526: A report where they revealed that they were still owed round $ 587.2m (£472m) from Gupta’s GFG Alliance. Gupta's wife Nicola Crumpton is from Canvey Island , Essex, and was the treasurer of his company. Gupta had kept his relationship with Crumpton secret for seven years before they married in 2008, the family's first cross-cultural marriage. Gupta and Crumpton bought a £42 million ($ 60 million) townhouse in Belgravia, London during 2021, own Wyelands ,
376-534: A restructuring plan for its UK-based Speciality Steel division (SSUK) in a bid to reduce its significant debt load. Despite potential impacts on creditors, it has been reported that the plan will not affect the 1,500 employees of SSUK. Sanjeev Gupta Sanjeev Gupta (born September 1971) is an Indian-born British businessman, and the founder of Liberty House Group . He is the CEO and chairman of GFG Alliance , an international conglomerate that operates primarily in
423-838: A second bank which he renamed the Commonwealth Trade Bank. He then doubled the GFG Alliance workforce in July 2019, by acquiring seven steelworks and five service centres across seven countries in continental Europe from ArcelorMittal . In October 2019, Gupta consolidated all his global steel businesses to form Liberty Steel Group, which he announced would aim to be the world's first carbon neutral company by 2030. He extended that target to his aluminium businesses, which he grouped together to form ALVANCE Aluminium Group, which he announced in January 2020. He has been dubbed
470-468: A view to concluding a transaction with them this week," regarding the sale. On 12 March it was announced that the deal with Athene had fallen through. The deal collapsed in part due to the low value of Greensill's assets, which were further reduced by the preservation of technology firm Taulia, through a partnership between Taulia, JPMorgan Chase , and other banks. Taulia facilitates lending from several finance companies to clients, but counted Greensill as
517-633: Is based in Singapore . The company focuses on ferrous and non-ferrous metal trading, metals recycling, steel and aluminium production, and engineering products and services. Gupta controls it through his vehicle GFG Alliance . LHG was founded by Sanjeev Gupta in 1992. LHG, together with the SIMEC Group , part of the GFG Alliance , purchased the Lochaber aluminium smelter plant as well as
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#1732780434809564-496: The Financial Times reported that Softbank had invested more than $ 500 million into Credit Suisse investment funds that financed Greensill's activities . Greensill, in turn, provided supply-chain financing to various companies backed by Softbank, in what reporters called a "circular flow of funding". The funds' exposure to Softbank-backed companies amounted to 15% of its assets, according to marketing documents. In addition,
611-635: The Clydebridge and Dalzell steel mills. The Dalzell site which manufactures steel plate was re-launched on 28 September 2016 by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon . In April 2016 when Tata Steel UK announced its intention to sell its UK based operations, Gupta launched a daring bid for the business, and launched Liberty House's Greensteel strategy. In October 2016, Liberty House launched its steel recycling division called Liberty Metals Recycling. In November 2016, Gupta finalised his purchase of Tungsten Bank, and renamed it Wyelands Bank, after
658-492: The Financial Times , defaults by GFG Alliance are partly responsible for Greensill Capital's ultimate insolvency. On 8 March 2021, Bloomberg reported that GFG Alliance believed it would become insolvent if Greensill collapsed and had defaulted on some of its bonds. In April 2024, Grant Thornton, the administrators for Greensill, published a report where they revealed that they were still owed round $ 587.2m (£472m) from
705-726: The Laggan Dam from Rio Tinto in November 2016. In February 2017, LHG agreed to purchase the specialty steel division of Tata Steel Europe for £100 million. The purchase included the division's facilities in Rotherham , Stocksbridge and Brinsworth in South Yorkshire and Wednesbury in the West Midlands . In July 2017, LHG purchased South Australian steelmaker Arrium which was rebadged LibertyOneSteel for
752-711: The Credit Suisse funds. According to Credit Suisse, other investors in the funds "suffered no loss as a result of these relationships". Until its insolvency, Greensill Capital, along with its German subsidiary Greensill Bank, had a significant exposure to GFG Alliance , a group of businesses associated with steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta . The exposure of Lex Greensill's firms to GFG Alliance totalled $ 5 billion. Conversely, GFG Alliance depended heavily on financing by Greensill Capital to conduct its operations. GFG Alliance relied especially on Greensill Capital's future accounts receivables finance program. According to
799-471: The GFG Alliance. In 2020, the German financial regulator BaFin opened an investigation into Greensill Bank's accounting. In March 2021, BaFin filed a criminal complaint against Greensill Bank and banned activity at the bank. In 2018, former British Prime Minister David Cameron became an advisor to Greensill. While his position was unpaid, he was given shares that could have been worth £70 million in
846-678: The Gupta-led GFG Alliance completed the acquisition of Britain's last aluminium smelter at Fort William in Lochaber, along with the hydro-power plants at Kinlochleven and Fort William. In August 2017, Gupta acquired Arriums Whyalla Steelworks in Australia, encompassing primary steelmaking, recycling, distribution and iron ore mining. The new business is conducted under the Liberty brand. In December 2017, Gupta entered
893-455: The Softbank investment, the firm delayed considering other fundraising options such as an initial public offering. By late 2020, the firm had begun pursuing other investors, aiming to raise between $ 500 and $ 600 million and to subsequently complete an IPO within two years. In order to achieve its goal, the company agreed with an order by its board to sell all four of its planes, which included
940-642: The UK assets and business of the former Caparo Industries Plc, saving over 1,000 jobs primarily in the West Midlands. In March 2016 Liberty House reached an agreement for the purchase of the last two previously mothballed steel manufacturing sites in Scotland from Tata Steel UK . The deal, which was brokered by the Scottish Government , was completed on 28 April 2016 when Liberty formally acquired
987-627: The US market by acquiring the Georgetown steelworks and expanded the US presence by acquiring Export Metals in March 2018. At the end of 2018, he purchased Keystone Consolidated Industries. During December 2018, Gupta acquired Aluminium Dunkerque, the largest aluminium smelter in Europe. This followed the acquisition of AR Industries, a French aluminium wheel manufacturer. In April 2019, Gupta acquired
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#17327804348091034-674: The case of an initial public offering . According to news sources, Cameron lobbied members of the British government on behalf of Greensill. In April 2021, HM Treasury released text messages sent by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to Cameron from April 2020, which showed that Sunak had "pushed the team" to consider Greensill's request for emergency government-backed COVID-19 loans, before ultimately rejecting their application in June 2020. The Treasury refused to release
1081-444: The collapse of financial backer Greensill. Liberty Steel had 3,000 employees, while GFG Alliance had another 2,000 in other UK metals and engineering businesses. In April 2021, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng rejected a request to bail LSG out. In February 2022, HM Revenue & Customs sought winding up petitions against four LSG subsidiaries. In November 2024, Liberty Steel initiated
1128-483: The college’s charitable status. That repeatedly got him into trouble with the college dean. While his business was generating £1m a day, he switched to study economics and business management instead, a move which he claims freed up time to work on the business. Initially, Liberty House traded steel, rice, sugar, fast-moving consumer goods , engineering and other goods as a part of the family business but it soon diversified into specific commodities and brought together
1175-580: The coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme (CLBILS), which benefited from an 80% government guarantee. In May 2022, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced they were launching a criminal investigation into the Gupta Family Group Alliance ( GFG ) into suspected fraud linked to the collapse of Greensill Capital. This is ongoing. In April 2024, Grant Thornton , the administrators for Greensill, published
1222-675: The country house estate Wyelands he owns near Chepstow . In November 2016 Liberty House entered into exclusive negotiations with Tata Steel UK for the acquisition of its speciality steels business based in West Yorkshire and China. In February 2017 Tata Steel UK and Liberty House signed an agreement on the purchase, and the deal was completed in April 2017. The acquisition saved 1,700 jobs across sites in Rotherham, Stocksbridge and Brinsworth, Bolton and Wednesbury. In December 2016,
1269-494: The coverage, including by taking legal action against the insurers, but was ultimately unsuccessful. After this failure, Greensill attempted to secure insurance from other firms, but did not succeed. On 1 March 2021, Credit Suisse froze $ 10 billion in funds that were invested in Greensill's financial products and held by its supply-chain investment funds . According to the Financial Times , "Credit Suisse’s concerns about
1316-607: The emergence of Greensill and other similar firms as they do not face the same level of regulatory scrutiny. Those in favour of reverse factoring say that it benefits suppliers as it settles their debts more quickly. Those critical of the practice generally oppose it as it can allow companies to obscure debts, and encourage habitual late payments by the stronger side in a business relation. In order to finance its activities, Greensill relied on loans provided by specialised supply-chain investment funds managed by Credit Suisse : Greensill regularly issued notes that were often bought by
1363-531: The failed company. The Financial Times noted in 2019 that Gupta's companies have been fueled by "opaque financing". In April 2021, a Member of Parliament in the UK accused Gupta of running "a potential Ponzi scheme". Greensill Capital's bankruptcy administrator was unable to verify invoices underpinning certain loans to Gupta, with companies listed on the invoices denying that they had ever done business with Gupta. The collapse revealed that Greensill had lent £400m to companies owned or linked to Gupta, using
1410-511: The first year of ownership and is now Liberty Steel. In October 2019, GFG Alliance promised to merge its steel assets into Liberty Steel Group by year end. In 2020, LHG received European Union approval to purchase the Duffel , Belgium plant of aluminium smelter operator Aleris which cleared the way for the purchase of Aleris by Novelis . On 19 February 2021 ThyssenKrupp ended discussions with Liberty Steel, which had proposed to take over
1457-401: The former's steel unit. ThyssenKrupp has sought €1.5 billion for its steel assets but, given ThyssenKrupp €960 million EBIT loss in 2020, Liberty had sought to acquire the unit for a reverse payment. On 31 March 2021 Credit Suisse filed insolvency proceedings against Liberty Commodities (a LHG subsidiary) in a London court. The action was brought by a unit of another bank, Citigroup , which
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1504-491: The funds came to a head because insurance policies covering defaults in a portion of its assets lapsed over the weekend." According to The Wall Street Journal , Credit Suisse was also concerned with Greensill's large exposure to companies tied to steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta . In March 2021, Greensill considered filing for insolvency after the Credit Suisse freeze. On 1 March 2021 The Wall Street Journal reported that Greensill appointed Grant Thornton to help it during
1551-571: The funds to eight different companies linked to the steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta . The National Audit Office warned that the taxpayer could lose all the money that was lent, a potential £335m loss. In July 2020, a group of insurers led by Tokio Marine , which were insuring $ 4.6 billion of its working capital, announced to Greensill that it would stop providing the coverage. The decision came after Tokio Marine discovered that an employee at one of its subsidiaries had provided coverage that exceeded its risk limits. Greensill tried to obtain an extension of
1598-404: The funds' investments has been solely sourced to Greensill, which was itself backed by Softbank. According to a March 2021 report by The Wall Street Journal , the amount placed by Softbank in the Credit Suisse funds were closer to $ 1.5 billion and had been invested following a request of Lex Greensill to Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son . By July 2020, Softbank had redeemed all of its investments in
1645-502: The investment funds, thereby providing Greensill with cash. The repayment of the loans was secured by Greensill's claims to the repayment of the funds paid to its clients' suppliers. However, according to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal , the Credit Suisse investment funds are alleged to have bought notes tied to Greensill's "future accounts receivables finance" activity: these loans were only secured by future and uncertain sales, and were therefore riskier. On 14 June 2020,
1692-566: The investors in its supply-chain funds could sustain losses of up to $ 3 billion. Prior to Greensill's insolvency, the funds' assets amounted to $ 10 billion. On 15 March 2021, Bluestone Resources Inc., a coal mining company owned by West Virginia governor Jim Justice , sued Greensill for fraud. It alleges that Greensill departed from standard supply chain finance to engage in a more speculative practice, offering loans not only based on debts that other companies had already incurred, but also based on transactions that Greensill predicted would occur in
1739-571: The man who can save the British steel industry through an approach called Greensteel, and has since been working to apply this model of operation to other countries including Australia and the USA. Having founded Liberty Steel Central Europe Holdings Pte. Ltd. in Singapore on December 22, 2022 he successfully bid €55M on Dunaferr Steel Mill , Hungary's largest steel mill and became the new owner, adding Dunaferr to his portfolio. In October 2024, it
1786-475: The messages Cameron sent to Sunak, but revealed that Cameron had also "informally" called two other ministers from the department about the same topic. On 12 April 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered an inquiry into the collapse of Greensill and the lobbying efforts of David Cameron. In June 2021 it was revealed that the government-owned British Business Bank lent Greensill up to $ 400m without detailed checks being performed. Greensill in turn lent all
1833-607: The original company would have. The third party later receives payment from the company. "Future accounts receivables finance" consists in the lending of money to a company before a sale has been made, based on the expectation of future sales and future payments. Because future accounts receivables finance is based on prospective — and thus uncertain — payments, it is considered to be a risky activity. Though banks have typically conducted supply chain financing, regulation and capital restrictions targeting them have made such loans less profitable. This regulatory trend has in part led to
1880-538: The steel and mining industries. Following the collapse of Greensill Capital in 2021, Sanjeev Gupta has been under scrutiny for his ties to the failed company, which involved opaque financing and sales invoices that Greensill's administrator has been unable to verify. Gupta was born in Ludhiana , Punjab , India, the third of four children of Parduman K Gupta who founded the SIMEC Group . Both his father and grandfather were industrialists and businessmen. At age 13 he
1927-688: The trading business under three categories—steel, chemicals, and agriculture. In 2009, it entered steel making, buying plants in Africa. A year later in 2010, it was in Asia, setting up the regional headquarters in Singapore and a hub in Hong Kong in 2012 to focus on China. In 2013, Liberty House Group entered the UK through the purchase of Mir Steel UK (previously Aphasteel), a steel mill in Newport , South Wales, stopping it from being shut down. The business
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1974-578: Was acting under instruction from Credit Suisse. The Swiss bankers are on the hook for a $ 10 billion fund part of which was invested in Greensill Capital which had placed $ 3.6 billion in LHG parent company GFG, part of which had funnelled down to LCL. The balance sheet of Credit Suisse would absorb significant damage as a result. On 2 April 2021, Gupta claimed that none of its plants would close under his watch as he raced to refinance his business after
2021-593: Was enrolled at St Edmund's School , Canterbury, UK as a boarder. After completing his A-levels he spent his gap year selling bicycles in Turkey for his father before enrolling to study Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge . It is there that in February 1992 he founded the Liberty House Group. He was thrown out of residential halls at Trinity for registering a private business there, which breached
2068-573: Was formally re-launched as Liberty Steel Newport in October 2015. In the two and a half years leading up to the re-opening Gupta kept the entire 150 people workforce on half-pay while he tried to get the mothballed site operating again. Liberty Steel Newport produces hot rolled coil (HRC) for the following industries: construction, automotive, pipes and tubes, structural hollow sections, highway, yellow goods, materials-handling and power. In November and December 2015 Gupta purchased from administration
2115-464: Was founded in 2011, with an initial focus on supply-chain finance. The company had since diversified its revenue streams, offering conventional banking services through a German subsidiary, Greensill Bank ( de ), the offering of bonds based on debt it has purchased, and through funds managed with partner organisations including Credit Suisse . American private equity firm General Atlantic invested $ 250 million in Greensill in 2018. In 2018 Greensill
2162-476: Was reported that Sanjeev Gupta was being prosecuted by Companies House for failing to file accounts for 76 companies listed in Britain, including Liberty Commodities. Gupta has pleaded not guilty. The HRH Prince of Wales appointed Gupta as an official HRH Ambassador for Industrial Cadets in March 2018. Following the 2021 collapse of Greensill Capital , Sanjeev Gupta has been under scrutiny for his ties to
2209-461: Was subject to extended media coverage and a call from British City grandee Lord Myners for a formal investigation of the company's involvement in scandal at Anglo-Swiss asset manager GAM. In early 2019, Softbank invested $ 800 million in the company through its Vision Fund . This investment allowed Greensill to expand quickly, increasing its employee headcount from 500 at 2019's close to over 1000 in early 2021, located in sixteen offices. Due to
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