By Eric Onstad
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s tax authorities have filed winding up petitions for several steel businesses owned by the GFG Alliance controlled by commodities tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, court records showed.
Gupta’s family conglomerate GFG has been scrambling to arrange financing to rescue his cash-starved web of businesses in steel, aluminium and energy after supply chain finance firm Greensill filed for insolvency in March last year.
The tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs, filed winding up petitions on Monday for at least three GFG UK businesses, including Liberty Performance Steels Ltd., filings showed.
GFG said in a statement: “We are in continuous dialogue with all our creditors including HMRC to find an amicable solution that’s in the best interest of all stakeholders.
“Short-term actions that risk destabilising these efforts are not in anyone’s interest, and undermine creditor recovery at a critical stage in our debt restructuring.”
Gupta had been lauded as the saviour of steel in Britain as he bought distressed assets in economically deprived areas. His group has 35,000 workers, including 5,000 in Britain, and annual revenues of $20 billion.
The Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG), however, has been under a cloud after the UK launched an investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering in mid-May.
(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Nick Macfie)
