Liberty Steels pushed into liquidation move puts 1,500 jobs at risk

Speciality Steels UK, the country’s third-largest steelworks part of British Indian metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta group, was on Thursday pushed into compulsory liquidation.

 

The UK government-run Insolvency Service confirmed it will be acting as the liquidator after a High Court ruling. Liberty Steel said the decision to put the firm into compulsory liquidation was “irrational”, which puts 1,500 jobs at risk. 

“Following an application made by the Official Receiver, the court has also appointed Matthew James Cowlishaw, Hywel Phillips and Robert Fishman of Teneo Financial Advisory Limited as Special Managers of the company,” the Insolvency Service said. 

Lawyers for Liberty had applied for a four-week adjournment to allow time to place the company in a “pre-pack administration”, which allows an insolvent company to sell its assets to a bidder.