Indian-origin businessman Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty House today announced that it would be restarting from next month steelworks in south Wales which it had acquired from NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul's Caparo Group last year.
The firm, also at the forefront of a bid to acquire Tata Steel's UK assets, said it will commence steel pipe and tube manufacturing from June at Tredegar in the South Wales Valleys, which had been closed when it went into administration in 2015.
"Tredegar will once again supply steel tube domestically. This is great news for the UK steel industry and for skilled workers in South Wales. It is also another step in turning the tide for the UK's steel industry. Steel tube is a vital link in the supply chain and adds to the integration which is essential for the sector," Gupta said.
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"The steel ecosystem is at the heart of manufacturing, and the global oversupply of steel increases the need for the UK to refocus our industrial strategy around both reducing costs and adding value to steel. Without significant change we will lose the remaining cornerstone of manufacturing," he said.
"Our plan is to restructure the sector around production efficiency, engineering integration, and innovation. Britain's outstanding skills, engineering and production knowledge and resources can re-invigorate the supply chain and bring about a new industrial renaissance," he explained.
The facility was part of the Caparo Industries group of steel and engineering companies rescued from administration by Liberty House in November and December last year.
Several companies from the group are now thriving in the West Midlands region of England, supplying a range of core and advanced products to automotive, aerospace and other manufacturers, Liberty House said.
The latest announcement marks the seventh British steelworks Liberty House has re-opened in as many months.
(Reopens FGN 14)
Tredegar was inaugurated by Prince Charles in 1977, with a second production line inaugurated there by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1978.
The re-opened plant will form part of Liberty's Greensteel strategy, a British steel supply value chain Liberty is developing, that will encompass all stages of the process, using green energy to "upcycle" scrap steel from its melting through to the engineering of advanced products.
Hot rolled coil for the plant will come from the rolling mill at nearby Liberty Steel Newport, itself re-started in October 2015, over two years after being mothballed.
Tredegar's output will replace some of the almost one million tonnes of steel tube currently imported into the UK each year for construction and manufacturing. The UK currently has one of the highest import dependency levels of this core product in the developed world.
In preparation for the re-opening in June, the company said it has been re-contacting former workers from the plant. Tredegar will be expanding its range of products and is also planning multiple training opportunities for young apprentices.
Based on 25 years' experience in global steel markets, Liberty has developed its Greensteel vision for a clean, integrated and competitive UK steel industry, based on melting and upcycling the growing mountain of scrap in the UK. Its bid for Tata Steel UK assets also centres around this strategy.
