UK Steel Tycoon Sanjeev Gupta Buys Second US Plant In A Week

A British steel entrepreneur has struck deals for two plants in America in the space of a week. Sanjeev Gupta, who runs the Liberty House group which is part of GFG Alliance, began negotiations as soon as Donald Trump was elected last year and has promised to help restore jobs in South Carolina and Minnesota.

The deal to buy and reopen the troubled Georgetown steelworks in South Carolina was confirmed last week.

GFG Alliance has now confirmed a $250m (£190m) deal for Mesabi Metallics, an iron ore pellet plant at Nashwauk in Minnesota.

South Wales-based entrepreneur Mr Gupta described the Georgetown deal as a landmark in revitalising the American steel industry and promised workers who had left the sector an opportunity to “rediscover what was lost.”

He said: “Our agreement in principle with Arcelor Mittal opens the door to the eventual restoration of several hundred jobs, both directly and in the supply chain, and it gives this region’s economy a new industrial focus.

Mr Gupta added: “This is a key first step for us in the USA. We’re keen to apply the same low-carbon GREENSTEEL vision here as we are doing in the UK .

“Acquiring the plant at Georgetown, with its ability to recycle scrap steel in an arc furnace, gives us a strong platform from which to launch our strategy in the USA.”

Mr Trump’s Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is a businessman who once invested in the Georgetown Steel plant that has been closed since 2015.

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com