The UK government, in a bid to save the business and protect 1,500 jobs, has taken control of the UK’s third largest steelworks.
SSUK is home to the UK’s largest electric arc furnace, which are more energy efficient and are thought to be pivotal in the industry’s energy transition.
The high court in London ordered the winding up of Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), which has plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge, despite the company’s request for more time to find new financial backers.
The company, previously part of the metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel group, was then put under the control of the government’s official receiver, who appointed special managers from the advisory firm Teneo to run it.
The judge, Justice Mellor, indicated that there was too much uncertainty over whether Gupta could come up with necessary funding. “It is quite clear that there are special managers lined up who have the support of the government,” he said. “I consider, by far, the preferable approach is to make a winding-up order.”
Gupta, whose firm owns a collection of businesses in energy, trading and steel, employing thousands of people in the UK, has faced scrutiny since GFG’s main lender, Greensill Capital, collapsed in 2021.
This marks the second government intervention in the steel industry this year after ministers took control of British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, fearing that its Chinese owners would let the blast furnaces cool beyond repair.
Published September 2025
