In a statement, the steel entrepreneur said the new entity, called Liberty Steel Group, will combine the Gupta family’s upstream and downstream steel manufacturing, mining, and distribution businesses throughout the world. With facilities in Australia, continental Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, the combined operation will have annual sales of approximately US$15 billion, the company said. 

“Our integrated group will stretch around the world, with a financial and governance structure suitable for an intercontinental business of our size,” Gupta said. “We are creating a new force in steel with the size, scale and agility to forge a path toward a sustainable future for our steel businesses and the communities in which we operate.”

The company said it will launch with the intention of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, a goal it intends to achieve by way of its Greensteel strategy. Central to that strategy are use of electric arc furnaces to recycle steel and use of renewable energy sources. 

The company already consumes 3 million metric tons of scrap annually, it said, and has electric arc furnace investments underway in the U.K., Australia and the United States.

“The group’s strategy will encompass a balanced model, rather than a silver bullet, including transitioning our existing blast furnaces toward electric arc furnaces, investing in new electric arc furnaces and piloting new clean technologies around the world. It will aim to tackle emissions at its sites by exploring technologies such as direct reduced iron and carbon capture and storage, and we will continue to participate in the development of various forms of renewable energy through our sister company, SIMEC Energy,” it said.