Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of the GFG Alliance, today (July 19th) met employees as the 300-worker Onesteel Laverton steel plant in Victoria and assured them of a bright future for the business
Mr. Gupta said,” OneSteel’s recycling, steel and distribution business is identical to GFG Alliance’s well published GREENSTEEL strategy. Collecting and processing local scrap, melting and refining it back to high quality steel, rolled into first class rolled products, and then further engineered and delivered with the highest quality service to the consumer is all what our GREENSTEEL strategy is about. OneSteel is already successfully implementing this vision in Australia. The missing piece here is integrated renewable energy generation to bring down cost and produce a truly sustainable product as are implementing in the UK. We will work in earnest through our SIMEC Energy vertical to plug thus gap.
“OneSteel is already a core part of the local economy. However, Australia still exports half the scrap it generates. We will look to use this valuable resource increasingly to expand OneSteel’s GREENSTEEL capacity.
“As we approach the completion of this deal, I want to thank all of the Arrium employees for their commitment and hard work throughout the administration process. I am very confident that with such a proud and resilient work force supporting our plans and ambitions, our investments in Arrium will bear fruit.”
Mr. Gupta added, “In the past few months, our teams have worked around the clock to lay the groundwork for a new visionary company that will deliver a differentiated offering for our customers, bring incredible opportunities for our combined employees, and sustainable value creation for our shareholders”.
Following their visits to Whyalla and Laverton, Mr Gupta and the GFG Alliance team will move on to the OneSteel works at Rooty Hill in Sydney tomorrow, another OneSteel site with steel melting and rolling operations.
GFG Alliance’s acquisition of Arrium has been applauded by UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox who said: “I welcome the news that such an investment by a British consortium will help share expertise between our manufacturing sectors and safeguard thousands of jobs. The UK is the second largest investor in Australia with over £220 billion of investment, and as Secretary of State for the Department for International Trade, an international economic department, I look forward to ever more opportunities between our two trading nations as the UK leaves the EU.”
The acquisition of Arrium builds on GFG Alliance’s track record of acquisitions and turnarounds in the UK where it is now a key player in the metals, engineering and energy sectors. To date the group has secured the jobs of about 5,000 industrial workers in the UK through its Liberty House and SIMEC businesses.
