Metallurgical tycoon Gupta to unite steel operations

British commodity tycoon Sanjeev Gupta will merge his family's steel companies into the new Liberty Steel Group by the end of the year, he said.

Other companies in his family's private conglomerate GFG Alliance will also be arranging for possible IPOs in the future.

"Whether it be metallurgical, aluminum or energy companies ... all companies will be prepared in terms of governance, accountability and transparency, so they will be ready in every possible way to get a listing at any time."

The steel assets are currently under the jurisdiction of the GFG Liberty House Group, but by the end of the year they will be included in the board of directors, and its consolidated financial statements will amount to $ 15 billion in annual turnover.

“The merger will happen by the end of the year and we will be running a series of preliminary data during the first quarter of next year,” said Gupta, executive chairman of the GFG Alliance.

He said any potential list could be in London or elsewhere.

Liberty Steel, with an annual production of 18 million tonnes, will become the 17th largest steel producer in the world, according to the World Steel Association for 2018.

The new steel group, which operates in 10 countries and has 30,000 employees, will also promote a sustainable steel initiative aimed at becoming carbon neutral by 2030, Gupta said.

Its so-called GreenSteel program will focus in part on building more electric arc furnaces (EAFs) that use less energy and are more efficient because they recycle scrap steel.

By expanding the EAF and using more renewable energy sources such as wind turbines to power its plants, Gupta said Liberty should be able to move 70-80% of the path towards carbon neutrality.

Using hydrogen to make primary steel is expected to be the final piece of the puzzle, he added.

“Technically, it’s already proven, you can make steel with hydrogen, the only question is economic viability,” Gupta said.

He expects hydrogen to follow the same path towards renewables, where prices have plummeted in recent years and are more viable than many expected.

Gupta declined to comment on reports that his company is interested in bidding for the second-largest British steelmaker, British Steel, which was liquidated on 22 May.

A deal aimed at saving him from collapse has been in jeopardy as exclusive talks with Turkish military pension fund OYAK last week met a deadline