Liberty House completes deal to acquire former Tata Steel plants in Lanarkshire
Metals firm Liberty House has announced it has completed its acquisition of two former Tata Steel plate-making facilities in Lanarkshire.
Metals firm Liberty House has announced it has completed its acquisition of two former Tata Steel plate-making facilities in Lanarkshire.
The deal involved a back-to-back transaction which saw the Scottish Government acquire the Dalzell and Clydebridge plants before immediately selling them to Liberty.
Sanjeev Gupta, executive chair of the Liberty House Group, has said the industry will enter a "new era" as a result of the deal.
He was handed the keys to the plants at a ceremony earlier in April, six months after struggling Indian conglomerate Tata announced it was mothballing the two sites with the loss of 270 jobs.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Mr Gupta said: "We're very pleased to announce that we have completed the deal to acquire Tata's plate mills in Scotland and we now look forward to continuing to work with local management and the workforce to re-build these great businesses in the months ahead.
"We're very grateful for the valuable support of the Scottish Government and the trade unions in concluding this deal. Our team are continuing to evaluate the opportunity to make a bid for other Tata UK assets."
Work could get under way again at the steel mills as early as August.
Welcoming the latest development, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "I am delighted that the final details of the deal to transfer the Scottish steel plants is now concluded and implemented.
"We are very grateful to Liberty for their foresight in coming forward to take up this exciting opportunity in Scotland and for the energetic and speedy manner in which they worked with the Scottish Government to help save these jobs."
Ministers convened a taskforce in October with a view to securing a new operator for the plants.
Scottish Business Minister Fergus Ewing, who chaired the taskforce, said: "It has been a team effort which has paid off and once again the steelworkers of Scotland will produce world-class products from Lanarkshire."