Sanjeev Gupta takes charge of revamped Liberty Steel board

BRITISH INDIAN entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta on Wednesday took charge of the newly revamped board of directors and global leadership team of the Liberty Steel Group, setting a goal of becoming a carbon neutral company by 2030.

The group, based in London, said the new board's immediate focus will be to weather the economic storm brought about by the COVID-19 crisis and to ensure the business is well prepared for the recovery when it comes.

"This is an important step as we complete the consolidation of GFG Alliance's steel businesses into Liberty Steel Group. I am proud of the leadership team we have brought together, which comprises some of the most experienced names in the global metals industry," said Gupta, the executive chairman of the group.

"The immediate focus of the Liberty Steel Group board will be to manage the impact of COVID-19 on our people, operations and customers, and ensure the group is well prepared for the recovery when it comes," he said.

The newly formed Liberty Steel Group said it is now the eighth largest steel group outside China, employing 30,000 people with operations spanning the UK, Europe, US and Australia.

Steel industry veteran Roland Junck, previously with giants such as British Steel and ArcelorMittal, joins Liberty as President and Interim CEO of the group's UK and European businesses and Greg Jones of Liberty's InfraBuild business is appointed CEO of Liberty Steel USA to oversee business transformation.

Overseeing Australia and the US will be Daksesh Patel a.k.a. Dak Patel, who will continue in his parallel role as Executive Director and Chief Executive of InfraBuild in Australia.

Liberty said it is also appointing two independent non-executive directors to operate to international best practice of corporate governance.

Australian businessman and steel industry veteran Ray Horsburgh AM will join the board as an independent non-executive director along with Paul Struijk, a natural resources and mining sector specialist with vast global experience.

Gupta added: "I am delighted that Dak Patel has agreed to take on additional responsibilities beyond his successful role as Executive Director and Chief Executive of InfraBuild, and we're pleased to welcome Roland Junck, a true steel industry heavyweight whose insights and experience will be invaluable.

"Together with our newly appointed independent non-executive directors Ray Horsburgh and Paul Struijk we have an exceptionally talented board that will help propel our business forwards."

As part of the new team, Arnaud de Weert has been appointed as Liberty Steel Group's COO who, until recently, was chief executive of ALVANCE Aluminium. The group's Chief Financial Officer remains V Ashok, who joined Liberty Steel in 2019.

The company said that the consolidated Liberty Steel Group will be incorporated in Singapore and have a financial year end of 31st March 2020 to ensure its first set of consolidated accounts reflects normalised performance given the coronavirus pandemic.