UK-based Indian-origin steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, has won a top global award for his successful acquisitions and drive to transform the steel industry.
Gupta, who is the executive chairman of the Liberty House Group received the title of 'CEO of the Year' at the prestigious Platts Global Metals Awards in London on Thursday.
Gupta was chosen from a shortlist of top 10 metal industry executives, which included CEOs like Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel and Prakash Kumar Singh of the Steel Authority of India.
In their acknowledgment, the judges said that they were impressed by the track record of Gupta’s successful acquisitions and his role as a motivator willing to swim against the tide of pessimism prevalent in the industry.
"This has been an extraordinary period for our group as we pursue our GreenSteel vision for a resilient, high-value metals industry. It is hugely encouraging for our work to be recognised in this way by our peers in the industry and it motivates us to pursue this mission even more vigorously," Gupta said. "I am proud and humbled to receive this award on behalf of all our 5,000 staff who have been part of this mission."
The Liberty Group invested more than 500 million pounds in the last 18 months to acquire and turn around metals, energy and engineering operations across the UK, saving more than 5,000 jobs in the process.
Gupta subsequently went on to pursue major mining and metals assets in the United States and Australia.
The Liberty Group has moved from a trading entity to becoming among the largest industrial employer in the UK and the owner of Britain’s last aluminium smelter.
The company recently completed the acquisition of Tata’s speciality steels business, which supplies high-value steels to automotive, aerospace, industrial and energy clients worldwide.
In leading the group through this transformation phase, Gupta applied his GreenSteel business model, which is designed to secure a competitive, low carbon future for the manufacture of metal, through recycling use of renewable energy and vertical integration with value-added engineering activities.
He won the S&P Global Platts CEO award on 25th anniversary of the company.
The company has grown from its beginnings as a trading operation run from Gupta's student halls of residence at Cambridge University into a global metals and industrial enterprise expected to gross around $7 billion this year.
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