Steel firm secures its future with new funding

STEEL company Liberty has secured its future after confirming new funding, and will subsequently create a new corporate structure in which to consolidate its existing UK businesses.

The company – which employs more than 2,000 people across eight UK sites, including in Rotherham, Brinsworth and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire – faced uncertainty after the collapse of backers Greensill Capital in March 2021. Shareholders invested £210m since Greensill’s collapse to maintain the business until new backers could be found after the then-business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng rejected a request for £170m to keep the company afloat.

Liberty’s Australian sister company InfraBuild has secured a $350m bond from investors through bankers Jefferies and an asset-backed long term loan for the same amount through BlackRock and Silver Point Finance.

The new investment will allow Liberty to increase the capacity of its electric arc furnace in Rotherham to two million tonnes of feedstock a year. Electric arc furnaces take scrap steel and produce new steel products after melting it down, and are seen as a greener alternative to traditional steelmaking which is carbon intensive.

Jeffrey Kabel, Liberty’s Chief Transformation Officer, said: “Following our successful capital raising in 2023 we are now in a position to execute this new updated creditor framework. The completion of the deal will enable our businesses to build on the operational, commercial and governance improvements we’ve made across the group over the past three years.

“Our restructuring agreement now paves the way for a new company structure that will allow us to significantly increase our lower carbon emissions steel production in Rotherham feeding our network of downstream mills around the country.”