Allez Gupta as tycoon acquires alloy plant

Indian magnate Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Engineering yesterday won its legal bid to secure the last remaining French manufacturer of aluminiumwheels,arindustries (ARI) and the hundreds of jobs that depend on it.

The ruling by the court of administration in Orleans, in the French region of Centreval de Loire, means that Liberty – part of Gupta’s GFG Alliance – can put in place a threeyear recovery plan for the ARI site at Chateauroux.

Gupta also has extensive business interests in Scotland, including the Dalzell and Clydebridge steel-rolling mills and hydro-power.

In addition, yesterday’s French acquisition is seen as providing the technical expertise and resource to support GFG’S announced plan to build a 425-job alloy wheels plant at Fort William.

It also comes after Gupta recently announced that it was buying Aluminium Dunkerque, Europe’s largest aluminium smelter from Rio Tinto, as part of its French expansion.

Gupta said yesterday: “This is a very positive result not just for our business but first and foremost for the workforce at ARI.

“We’ve been very clear that France is one of the world’s great industrial economies and a key market for us. ARI is a perfect fit for our business and our investment strategy for France.”

Gupta has said his group wants to become a vertically integrated major supplier to the engineering and auto sectors in both France and the UK.

The ARI purchase is expected to save 350 direct jobs. 0 Sanjeev Gupta – France ‘a great industrial economy’