PIO bails out another ailing UK plant |
Indian-origin steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta has come to the rescue of yet another ailing UK plant after he agreed a deal to acquire Britain`s largest producer of merchant bar used for shaping steel products.Under the deal, Gupta`s Liberty House group will acquire 100 per cent of the share capital of Scunthorpe-based Caparo Merchant Bar plc (CMB) from the administrators of Caparo Industries. It forms part of Liberty`s wider strategy for the UK`s steel industry, having taken over large parts of Tata Steel`s British operations and previously acquiring much of the Caparo engineering business when the units owned by NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul went into administration in 2015. The latest acquisition is based on the expectation of reaching a final agreement with the pension trustee concerning Caparo Industries` 1,700-member pension scheme, and other key creditors of the business, Liberty House said .CMB remained solvent despite its parent, Caparo Industries Plc, going into administration in late 2015, and since then the directors of the company have kept the business in profit. However, CMB remained coupled with the Caparo 1988 Pension Scheme, which had the effect of restricting CMB`s ability to develop its own financial flexibility. This placed the solvency of the company at risk potentially jeopardising creditors and the pension benefits of its employees.
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