Liberty House and Simec have completed the acquisition of Britain’s last remaining aluminium smelter at Fort William in Lochaber along with the neighbouring hydro-plant at Kinlochleven. Executive chairman at Liberty House Sanjeev Gupta made the announcement on Monday (19 December).
The acquisition was part of the GFG Alliance, an association between Gupta and his father Parduman Gupta’s business interests. The latter currently serves as the chairman of Simec. According to a statement, the takeover is one of the largest single investments by the alliance.
It would be a crying shame if the UK’s last aluminium smelter were to have gone to the wall. So we really should be applauding the news that it has been acquired and 170 jobs saved. Liberty currently supply their aluminium to Jaguar Land Rover. This is great news just before Christmas.