 "Sanjeev Gupta")
Britain's Indian-origin steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta has bagged a top global award for his successful acquisitions and his drive to transform the steel industry in the UK, India and beyond.
Gupta, the executive chairman of the Liberty House Group who has been behind a series of acquisitions in the British steel industry of former Tata Steel and Caparo assets, received the title "CEO of the Year" at the prestigious Platts Global Metals Awards in London last night.
He was chosen from a shortlist of 10 top metal industry executives, including Indian CEOs Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel and Prakash Kumar Singh of the Steel Authority of India.
In their citation, the judges' said they were "impressed by his track record of successful acquisitions and his role as a motivator willing to swim against the tide of pessimism prevalent in the industry."
"This has been an extraordinary period for our group as we pursue our GreenSteel vision for a resilient, high-value metals industry. It is hugely encouraging for our work to be recognised in this way by our peers in the industry and it motivates us to pursue this mission even more vigorously," Gupta said.
"I am proud and humbled to receive this award on behalf of all our 5,000 staff who have been part of this mission."
The high-profile honour follows an intensive 18-month period during which the Liberty Group invested more than 500 million pounds in acquiring and turning around metals, energy and engineering operations across the UK, saving more than 5,000 jobs in the process.
He subsequently went on to pursue major mining and metals assets in the US and Australia.
Recently the Liberty Group completed the acquisition of Tata's specialty steels business - now Liberty Speciality Steels - which supplies high-value steels to automotive, aerospace, industrial and energy clients worldwide.
In leading Liberty through this transformational phase, Gupta has applied his GreenSteel business model, designed to secure a competitive, low-carbon future for metal manufacture, through recycling, use of renewable energy and vertical integration with value-added engineering activities.
His success in securing the coveted the S&P Global Platts CEO title comes in the Liberty Group's 25th anniversary year.
