International industrial and metals group Liberty House has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Specialty Steels business of Tata Steel UK, a subsidiary of India-based Tata Steel Limited. The Specialty Steels business division has been renamed Liberty Specialty Steels.
With the acquisition of the Specialty Steels division, Liberty will create around 300 new steel jobs in South Yorkshire and it will invest up to £20 million in new plant and equipment in the first year alone to boost competitiveness and secure international market leadership for the business.
According to the company’s statement, the new Liberty Specialty Steels will increase output substantially at the electric arc furnaces, casting shop and bar mill in Rotherham, with bigger plans across the wider Specialty business in the years ahead. Production from the arc furnaces is expected to rise to over a million mt per year and there are plans for the bar mill to roll over 400,000 mt a year. In addition, the business will grow its position in the aerospace markets, utilizing recent capital investments at Stocksbridge and investing in additional capacity and new technology.
In February this year, Liberty signed a deal with Tata Steel UK to acquire its high-profile Specialty Steels business for a total consideration of £100 million, securing the jobs of 1,700 existing staff at three major sites at Rotherham, Stocksbridge and Brinsworth in South Yorkshire, smaller sites in Bolton, Lancashire and Wednesbury in the West Midlands and two distribution centers in China.