Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty House Group hit with €140m freezing injunction
Steel giant ArcelorMittal has secured a €140m freezing injunction in Singapore against the Liberty House Group, and seeks to file a worldwide freezing order.
According to Argus Media and the Financial Times, the High Court of Singapore granted ArcelorMittal arbitration award for a freezing injunction that prohibited the transfer of Liberty’s Singaporean assets outside the country.
The reports quote a court document filed to the US District Court of Georgia on 25 October by ArcelorMittal outlining it “contemplates filing a worldwide freezing order in the English courts to prohibit the transfer of any of Liberty’s assets anywhere in the world up to €140m.”
It was added that earlier this year, the London Arbitration Tribunal sided with ArcelorMittal by issuing a €140m award against Singapore-based Liberty House Group and UK-based Liberty Steel East Europe.
The Liberty House Group is a British industrial and metals company founded by entrepreneur Sanjeev Gupta.
In 2019, Liberty Steel, part of Gupta’s global GFG Alliance, completed a €740m acquisition of seven major steelworks and five service centres across seven European countries from ArcelorMittal.
The Serious Fraud Office confirmed in May 2021 that it launched an investigating into business of companies within the Gupta Family Group Alliance (GFG), including its financing arrangements with Greensill Capital UK.
ArcelorMittal has declined to comment.
A GFG Alliance spokesperson said: “This is not a new development but a long-running dispute relating to a contested deferred consideration from 2019 which GFG is challenging through legal means. We have applied to overturn the order, and the Singaporean companies referred to as having their assets frozen are non-trading holding companies, so have no operations. This has absolutely no impact on any of our businesses, suppliers, or customers.”