The British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta was called the 'Savior of Steel' when he came in to buy the struggling why all -steelworks.
Now his vision has proven a pipe dream and the South Australian government has forced the factory in administration in an attempt to restore the millions of dollars it owes.
Gupta has left a trail of debts, angry employees and disillusioned politicians.
But he once seemed like a solution for the Labor Government of the State, which hoped to run the steel factory and at the same time reduce emissions.
In 2017, Gupta took over the most important factory in South Australia – the only producer of the land of steel beams for construction and rails – after the previous owner went into administration.
He promised to invest up to $ 1.5 billion in the factory and make it CO2 neutral by producing 'green' steel – a model that he also tried to introduce to his other steel activities around the world.
The transformation at Whyalla would include the replacement of coal with hydrogen in the production process and would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Gupta initially lived near the factory in Whyalla, northwest of Adelaide, and called the city of 22,000 people 'spiritual house'.
Sanjeev Gupta was called the 'Redder of Steel' when he came in to buy the wrestling Whyalla Steelworks in 2017
In 2017, Mr. Gupta took over the most important factory in South Australia – the only producer of the land of steel beams for construction and rails
Mr. Gupta bought the Potts Point Mansion 'Bomera' for $ 34 million in 2019
But he soon decamped to Sydney, where he rented a house in Bellevue Hill in the eastern suburbs for $ 30,000 a week, before he bought Potts Point Mansion, 'Bomera' for $ 34 million.
Gupta kept lush parties at the luxury residence, but there were hints everything was not good.
In August 2024, around the same time that the debts of Whyalla be started to be unpaid – and the blast furnace was not good – He bought an apartment on the finger from the Waterkant in Woolloomoolooo for $ 10 million and budgeted another $ 10 million to renovate his Potts Point Mansion.
He kept the performances and urged Davos last month that there was a resolution around the corner.
The South Australian government, millions owed unpaid royalties of GFG daughter company Onesteel Manufacturing, eventually lost patience.
On Wednesday, it voted Onesteel to place in a forced administration.
The Minister of Infrastructure of South Australia, Tom Koutsantonis, introduced the bill. Ironically, it was Mr. Koutsantonis who welcomed Mr Gupta in 2017 when he was the treasurer of the state.
Administrator Kordamentha is now expected to stabilize operations and possibly sell the factory to a new owner.
In 2024 he bought an apartment on the finger of the water in Woolloomooloo for $ 10 million
“GFG has made considerable profit of their facilities, despite long-made promises, it has not succeeded in investing back in the Steelworks,” said Mr. Koutsantonis on Wednesday.
Despite billions of dollars in steel sales from Whyalla, GFG had sent nearly $ 800 million offshore since 2017, he said.
'This is not a Whyalla problem -it's a GFG problem. And now GFG is in a position where its creditors are not paid. '
The South Australian Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas said that he had received advice “that the steel factory is being run into the ground to the extent that it can become irreparable.”
“It is important that it is not only the SteelWorks itself – it is a large number of local suppliers, small companies that are owned and operated by South Australians, whose debts remain unpaid, whose income has evaporated and whose living is at stake, '' he said.
Mr. Malinauskas, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Minister of Industry and Science Ed Husic have announced a joint support package worth $ 2.4 billion for the factory on Thursday.
“The Whyalla SteelWorks employs 1,100 employees and supports more than 2,000 indirectly,” Mr Husic said.
'Whyalla is crucial for sovereign Australian steel. It is one of only two Australian steel factory, produces 75 percent of the Australian structural steel and is the only domestic producer of long steel products.
“Steel from Whyalla helps Australia to build and maintain its infrastructure-inclusive railways, bridges, schools, hospitals, high-rise towers, transmission infrastructure and defense activa.”
Mr. Gupta said that the South Australian government was on the 'wrong course' to force him and he was looking for legal advice, according to a company memo that was seen by the Australian Financial Review.
