ArcelorMittal successfully bid to place Liberty Steel East Europe (Holdco) Ltd, a subsidiary of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, into administration due to a USD 147.4 mln debt deemed unlikely to be repaid, according to Reuters.
A London court ruled in favor of ArcelorMittal after an arbitration tribunal upheld its claim for unpaid debt linked to Liberty Steel East Europe’s 2019 acquisition of assets from ArcelorMittal.
Liberty Steel, part of Gupta’s GFG Alliance, has been struggling to refinance after its backer, supply chain finance firm Greensill, collapsed in 2021. GFG Alliance stated the ruling would not affect its operations or production. While Liberty Steel East Europe argued against administration, preferring to restructure the business, the court found the failure to settle the debt indicative of cashflow insolvency.
Judge Mark Mullen noted that administration would allow a thorough investigation of the company’s affairs, avoiding a potentially destabilizing liquidation for the wider GFG Alliance group.
