HMRC has withdrawn its petitions to wind up Liberty Steel as the parent company revealed how further funds have been injected, saving thousands of jobs.
Significant progress with creditors has been flagged by the South Yorkshire giant, with interests across the country.
Strong international demand has ensured robust performance as work to restructure and focus on the core business continues.
Jeffrey Kabel, chief transformation officer, said: “We’re pleased to report good further progress in our negotiations with creditors including UK’s HMRC. We are committed to repaying all creditors and this is an important step in enabling us to restructure and achieve long-term refinancing.
“Our core international businesses have continued to generate strong returns and achieve record production levels despite the sky-high energy costs facing energy-intensive industries across the UK and Europe. We will continue to progress our efforts to refocus and refinance our operations for the long-term.”
Liberty has been under huge pressure since the collapse of major backer Greensill Capital.
A total of 3,000 jobs were understood to be at risk, with a headquarters and manufacturing plants in Rotherham, as well as Liberty Merchant Bar Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire. Operations in the North East, Scotland, West Bromwich and South Wales complete the UK portfolio, with sites in the US and Australia too under Sanjeev Gupta’s control.
After shutting down operations during the pandemic, its Greensteel electric arc furnace returned to production in October, operating at night to maximise efficiency.
November saw sell-offs of an aluminium division based in Coventry and Kidderminster.
Charlotte Childs, GMB’s national officer, said: “Retracting these winding up orders will be a massive comfort to our members at Liberty Steel.
“Thousands of jobs will be saved in the short term, but we are far from out of the woods.
“It is right that shareholder investment has been committed to secure the future of jobs and plants at Liberty Steel.
“GMB will now be seeking to continue constructive dialogue with GFG Alliance to ensure the impact of the financial restructuring and transformation package is felt in the right places.”
Alun Davies, national Officer for steelworkers' union Community, added: "The unions have been pressing HMRC and GFG to negotiate and the deal is extremely welcome. This is the best route to protect jobs and the deal will increase confidence that GFG is committed to Liberty Steel UK.
"GFG must now make good on promises to refinance Liberty Steel and deliver the investments we need to secure a long-term sustainable future.
"It’s high time the Government stepped up to support Liberty Steel, and all British steelmakers, by taking urgent action to bring our unaffordable energy prices into line with EU competitors. Liberty Steel is a strategically important business and has a crucial role to play producing green steels for a low-carbon economy."
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