Magnate offers hope to UK steelworkers

STEELWORKERS whose pensions were in peril after their company fell into administration could be getting a lifeline from industry magnate Sanjeev Gupta.

His growing Liberty House steelmaker has been hammering out a better deal for 1,700 members of the Caparo Industries pension scheme.

Many are at risk of falling into the pensions lifeboat after Caparo Industries fell into administration in 2015. But Gupta yesterday bought Caparo’s subsidiary Caparo Merchant Bar (CMB), which remained solvent, and is trying to sort out the group pension scheme alongside the deal. Details are not yet clear.

Caparo Merchant Bar employs 145 workers at two automated rolling mills in Scunthorpe. Steel giant Tata, which owns the Port Talbot steel works in South Wales, was a minority shareholder in CMB.