Less than a year after their acquisition by Liberty Steel, a subsidiary of the British Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG Alliance), the Ascoval steelworks located in the North and the Hayange rail factory in Moselle are again on sale.
Liberty Steel has appointed Rothschild bank, according to AFP.
"We remain confident in our ability to secure new financing, but at the same time, we have started, out of prudence, to explore put options for these companies,"
Liberty Steel said on Saturday.
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This information is not a surprise. Since the bankruptcy in March of the British company Greensill, which provided GFG with a large part of its liquidity, the fate of the two French factories has been pending. In 2020, under the aegis of Bercy, they had been united under the same roof - that of Liberty Steel - for industrial reasons. Ascoval supplies steel to the rail manufacturer in Hayange. At the end of March, the State released a loan of 20 million euros to allow the Ascoval plant, with an already turbulent history, to pay salaries and continue activity. But Liberty Steel has yet to find an additional 20 million euros, according to Nacim Bardi, CGT delegate. However, since the fall of Greensill, the empire of the Indo-British magnate Sanjeev Gupta has struggled to find new funding.
"If the group is now a seller, so much the better,"
says Nacim Bardi.
Given the strength of the steel market and the high quality of our products, we remain confident in our ability to secure new financing. ”
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The bankruptcy of Greensill has put other activities of the Gupta galaxy in France in difficulty.
The three automotive suppliers belonging to the Alvance group were placed in receivership at the end of April.