Liberty House eyes steel and aluminium assets in the UAE

Liberty House, a privately-owned British industrial conglomerate with $15 billion (Dh55.09bn) in revenues, is in talks to snap up steel and aluminium assets in the UAE as it looks to expand its Middle East presence, a company official said. “We are significantly advanced on two particular acquisitions and hope to make some announcement in the next year,” said David Dawson, the chief executive of Liberty House Industries, a unit of the parent company. “We are keen to establish our industrial presence in the Middle East and what we are really doing in many ways is replicating our global strategy.” Parent company Liberty House, which is part of the GFG Alliance owned by British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta, operates in over 30 countries. The London conglomerate is expanding aggressively in the steel and aluminium business from India to Luxembourg. In November, the company agreed to acquire three steel plants from ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer - two in Belgium and one in Luxembourg. In October, it agreed to further buy four steel facilities from ArcelorMittal in Romania, Czech Republic, Macedonia and Italy. In November, the company completed the purchase of a French smelter, Aluminium Dunkerque, which is Europe’s biggest producer of lightweight metal from Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto. In 2017, Liberty acquired a speciality steel operation from Tata Steel UK, a unit of India's Tata Steel. It also has facilities in Australia and the United States. Liberty House Industries expects its revenue to grow up to 20 per cent next year in the region if the acquisition in the UAE is finalised, said Mr Dawson. “Despite some market challenges around the region, we have shown good growth in 2018 and we are looking at further growth in 2019,” he said. “The UAE is an area where we can see sustainable growth for the long-term and that is what drives us as an organisation.”   Liberty House Industries is already boosting the range of products it sells in the UAE, where it supplies materials to the expansion of Al Maktoum International Airport and Dubai Metro.