Leaked report reveals Whyalla Steelworks is actually drowning in more than $300m debt

A list of 1293 creditors to GFG Alliance has been leaked to The Advertiser in a bombshell revealing debts of at least $300m.

• Gupta’s big ‘up-yours’ to SA

A bombshell leaked report reveals Whyalla steelworks owner Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance owes at least $300m in outstanding debts to creditors – more than double an emergency finance package the firm is pursuing.

The Advertiser has been supplied with a list of 1293 GFG external creditors, including large firms with debts ranging from almost $100m to small Whyalla businesses with a few hundred dollars outstanding.

A bombshell leaked report reveals Whyalla steelworks owner Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance owes at least $300m in outstanding debts to creditors. Picture: Dean Martin

Intensifying GFG’s financial woes, sources said the firm’s total debt was in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars more than the $300m-plus in outstanding payments due.

The extensive creditor list comprises four business units, which reveals a total of $218.75m in payments due past 61 days for: Whyalla steelworks, $43,274,676; SIMEC Mining (iron ore operations near Whyalla), $136,381,761; Whyalla Port, $4,651,718; and Tahmoor (NSW coking coal colliery), $34,450,137.

GFG’s outstanding debt is imperilling the prospect of creditors being repaid even with the $150m finance package Mr Gupta is “vigorously finalising”.

The largest creditor, mining services company Golding Contractors, is owed more than $92m. Golding, a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX-listed NRW Holdings, in January announced 253 job losses.

In a statement, GFG did not ­confirm the total of more than $300m in outstanding debts. Picture Simon Cross.

Other creditors include Port Adelaide Football Club, owed $1.265m in overdue payments, and SA Water, owed $17.484m in overdue payments. The money owed to Port Adelaide includes $852,752 in payments due past 61 days.

The Power on Tuesday said co-major partner GFG’s “current business challenges (were) impacting the club” but on Thursday said the outstanding amount was commercial in confidence between Port Adelaide and GFG.

In a statement, GFG did not ­confirm the total of more than $300m in outstanding debts but pointed out it was a “multibillion-dollar business” and any large company usually had “an appropriate level of creditors”.

GFG acknowledged last year’s ­production problems had caused “cash flow challenges” resulting in ­regrettable “delays with some of our creditors” but said new funding and ramped-up production “will help us normalise terms with all creditors”.

09/02/19 – Sanjeev Gupta's GFG as new joint major sponsor. Sanjeev Gupta with Port Adelaide players. Picture: Tom Huntley

The Advertiser has been told GFG employees are fed up.

GFG did not respond directly to those claims.

In a statement to The Advertiser on Tuesday, Mr Gupta said GFG was vigorously finalising new financing in a “key plank” to restore normal operations at the Whyalla steelworks but the process “has taken a bit longer than anticipated”.

Mr Gupta said the $150m emergency debt package was vital to paying creditors, which include the state government owed “tens of millions” of dollars in royalties.

A GFG subsidiary last week stood down about 400 workers at the NSW Tahmoor Coal mine, while the Whyalla blast furnace came back online in early January after two significant outages in 2024.

Responding to the $300m in outstanding debts, a GFG spokeswoman said: “Due to last year’s production problems, we have experienced cashflow challenges, which has regrettably resulted in delays with some of our creditors.

“We are making every effort to work collaboratively with our creditors while we finalise our new funding, which, together with our ramp up in production, will help us normalise terms with all our creditors.”

Sanjeev Gupta in his Adelaide CBD office in October, 2024. Picture Mark Brake

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, asked about the Whyalla steelworks crisis, said: “My government is working closely with Premier (Peter) Malinauskas to ensure Whyalla’s workers and community have a secure future.”

Giles MP Eddie Hughes, whose state electorate includes the town of Whyalla, urged GFG to give priority to small contractor businesses if any money was available for repayments.

“Many of these companies are Whyalla locals. There are small businesses that have been built up over the years. They’re the ones that should be given clear priority when it comes to any repayments,” said Mr Hughes, a former Whyalla steelworker.

Whyalla business SkyVision SA provided Mr Gupta’s company with two-way radios and electric maintenance.

Owner Roger Jordan said he, along with some other smaller businesses, “were the lucky ones”.

Roger Jordan is one such contractor, and while he says he stands to lose thousands, he has friends who are owed hundreds of thousands, with no sign that they will be paid. Picture: Dean Martin

Small businesses, or businesses that weren’t owed as much by GFG, were fortunate to have some of the debts repaid, but any money owed was money worth asking about, Mr Jordan said.

SkyVision SA is only owed a small sum of $1346 across the Whyalla steelworks and SIMEC Mining operations.

“We’re a bit thrown under the bus,” he said.

“One bloke needs $500, another $700, another $400, but we’re hearing sort of four-hundred-million or something is owed.”

Mr Jordan said some people in Whyalla had started calling for legal advice from the Premier’s office on the possibility of insolvency and what that would mean for the steelworks and local businesses.

In a brief encounter with Premier Peter Malinauskas during his visit to Whyalla on Monday, Mr Jordan told him to “put some trousers on”.

“He needs to be the Premier,” Mr Jordan said.

“I think Mali needs to toughen up.

“He needs to bring the Opposition on board and act as one voice.

“They all need to channel [Thomas] Playford – what would Playford have done?”

Speaking to the Advertiser on Thursday, Mr Jordan said the state government “is just not telling us” what the next steps were for the steelworks.

“The more they keep us in the dark, the more worried we become,” he said.

National company Senex Energy also confirmed that it was owed money.

But is was unable to disclose the amount due to confidentiality.