Financial Times reported that a Belgian court has overturned an earlier decision to liquidate Liberty Liege Dudelange operations in Belgium paving the way for the plants to restart production. According to court records “The decision was overturned after Gupta’s Romanian steel subsidiary Liberty Galati provided financial support for its Belgian counterpart in the form of a debt-to-equity swap worth EUR 52.5 million as well as EUR 3 million in cash. This resulted in raising the company’s net assets to EUR 81,946, which places it above the mandatory threshold of EUR 61,500 necessary to be compliant with the Belgian Companies & Associations code.”Liberty Liege a week ago filed annual accounts to June 2021, which show EUR 77.5 million in losses before tax, a further requirement from the court to grant the appealA commercial court in Belgium last month ruled administrators should be appointed to GFG's Liberty Steel operations in Liege due to negative equity even though a reorganization plan for the operations drafted after Greensill’s collapse originally provided for Liberty Galati to offer financial support to Liberty Liege by December last year.The decision provides temporary relief to Gupta’s GFG Alliance group, which is facing court battles in several jurisdictions, and has been attempting to refinance its businesses since the collapse of the group’s major lender Greensill Capital in March last year amid allegations of fraud. GFG has separately vowed to continue its fight to retain control of a rolling mill at Duffel that has also been the subject of litigation with its lender, US private equity group, American Industrial Partners.GFG bought two sites in Belgium at Flemalle and Tilleur in Liege and a third steel plant in Dudelange in Luxembourg from ArcelorMittal in 2018.
Financial Times reported that a Belgian court has overturned an earlier decision to liquidate Liberty Liege Dudelange operations in Belgium paving the way for the plants to restart production. According to court records “The decision was overturned after Gupta’s Romanian steel subsidiary Liberty Galati provided financial support for its Belgian counterpart in the form of a debt-to-equity swap worth EUR 52.5 million as well as EUR 3 million in cash. This resulted in raising the company’s net assets to EUR 81,946, which places it above the mandatory threshold of EUR 61,500 necessary to be compliant with the Belgian Companies & Associations code.”Liberty Liege a week ago filed annual accounts to June 2021, which show EUR 77.5 million in losses before tax, a further requirement from the court to grant the appealA commercial court in Belgium last month ruled administrators should be appointed to GFG's Liberty Steel operations in Liege due to negative equity even though a reorganization plan for the operations drafted after Greensill’s collapse originally provided for Liberty Galati to offer financial support to Liberty Liege by December last year.The decision provides temporary relief to Gupta’s GFG Alliance group, which is facing court battles in several jurisdictions, and has been attempting to refinance its businesses since the collapse of the group’s major lender Greensill Capital in March last year amid allegations of fraud. GFG has separately vowed to continue its fight to retain control of a rolling mill at Duffel that has also been the subject of litigation with its lender, US private equity group, American Industrial Partners.GFG bought two sites in Belgium at Flemalle and Tilleur in Liege and a third steel plant in Dudelange in Luxembourg from ArcelorMittal in 2018.
