Whyalla steelworks: How Sanjeev Gupta went from ‘saviour of steel’ to debt-ridden tycoon

Steel baron Sanjeev Gupta built a multibillion-dollar global empire from the ground up. Now its drowning in debt.

Once hailed as the man who saved South Australia’s steel industry, no one imagined that Sanjeev Gupta would be the one behind its fall.

Hailed a hero for rescuing the Whyalla steelworks in 2017, the British businessman promised to invest $600m in the steelworks.

Now with his company GFG Alliance owing “tens of millions” in royalties and bills to SA businesses over the plant, faith in the steel tycoon is fading.

But how did he build his multibillion-dollar empire in the first place?

Born in Punjab in 1971, Gupta is the third of four children born to successful businessman Parduman Gupta, who founded SIMEC Group.

Steel baron Sanjeev Gupta. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

At 12, he was sent to the UK for schooling, going on to study economics and management at Cambridge University.

It was there that he established his business, Liberty House, selling chemical products to Nigeria out of his dorm room, once making £1m in a day, reported the BBC.

However this would land him into trouble with the college throwing Gupta out of his dorm for running up large phone bills and registering a private business there.

Graduating in 1995, Gupta began trading commodities worldwide ranging from chemicals to frozen fish heads.

In the early 2000s, he began dating his company’s Essex-born treasurer Nicola Crumpton in secret due to his family’s strict values.

The pair, who share three children together, tied the knot in India in 2008, becoming the family’s first cross-cultural marriage.

The Guptas have an extensive property portfolio, including a $34m mansion and $12.5m apartment in Sydney.

Sanjeev Gupta with wife Nicola. Picture: Supplied

Gupta is the founder of Liberty House Group. Picture: Supplied

Over the past decade, Gupta has bought numerous struggling steelworks around the world through his GFG empire, starting with a Welsh steel mill in 2013.

Its 150 staff were offered to stay on the books and be paid 50 per cent of their wages, plus superannuation until it was reopened two years later with 144 of the original staff returning.

He then went on to make billions buying and developing hundreds of sites across the world, employing thousands, earning him the nickname “saviour of steel.”

Now spiralling in debt, GFG owes millions in royalties to not only the state government but also independent contractors.

The global company has also been hit with a $US53m lawsuit, awarding ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel damages for money owed by a subsidiary of Mr Gupta’s Liberty Group – also part of GFG Alliance.

With faith in Gupta fading fast in the Spencer Gulf city, a spokesperson for GFG previously told The Advertiser that they were “resolute in its commitment” to Whyalla and that a recently negotiated capital injection of $150 million would help company cash flow.

However the lifeline is yet to be signed off, weeks after it was initially expected.