Sanjeev Gupta, the business tycoon who has earned monikers such as 'man of steel' and 'saviour of British steel', came to Britain aged 12 and has taken the centre stage after buying more than 20 businesses in the last five years. About 2.5 years after Tata switched off an 800,000 ton-a-year furnace, Gupta bought it, resuming production of molten steel and creating about 300 jobs. The plant was inaugurated by The Prince of Wales himself.
Gupta's £9 bn turnover empire includes the Simec energy and trading businesses owned by his father, PK Gupta, and his own Liberty House businesses. The empire is held under the Gupta Family Group (GFG) Alliance. His Liberty House business is touted as the company that could save the British steel industry from collapse. He is now in the race for buying Tata’s UK steel operations, and if this happens, it could save thousands of jobs across the country.
Gupta was born to an Indian industrial family. He claims to have set up Liberty while he was still in college, studying Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge. He also claims to have been trading close to £1 mn a day. He was made to leave the halls for breaching the university's charitable status as he was running a private business from there.
Sanjeev Gupta, known for his strategic business acquisitions, continues to puzzle businessmen and business pundits across the globe, making them wonder how he plans to derive profits from his 'collection of tired assets'. Andrzej Kotas, Director at Metals Consulting International said, “The strategy is extremely confusing. I am puzzled how he hopes to make money on these investments when leading experts like Tata cannot make money”. Last year he shifted his business to South Australia, buying the huge Whyalla steelworks. He also plans to acquire GM's Holden plant in order to restart car production in Australia.
There have been concerns regarding the need for more transparency in relation to his expanding empire. GFG said in a statement: “All of GFG's acquisitions are part of the broad and well thought out strategies such as the greensteel strategy for low-carbon metals production based on recycling and renewable energy and integrated with downstream engineering; using industry-friendly financial services to bolster the markets in which we are active. We are very transparent in all our businesses and, as we enter the stock market, we will meet all relevant requirements and expectations.”
