[Ferro-Alloys.com] The first phase of production at Adhunik Metaliks Ltd and Zion Steel will begin on Thursday after almost three years of its shutdown and the subsequent acquisition by Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty Steel through the insolvency process in February of this year.

“The journey to get to this stage has not been without challenges, especially as we continue to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The myriad of challenges in starting up the plant and machinery was overcome through the work of Adhunik’s team,” said the company’s managing director Uday Gupta.

Adhunik and Zion Steel were taken to the insolvency courts and had an admitted debt of around Rs 5,000 crore, according to court filings in 2017. Billionaire Sanjeev Gupta-led GFG Alliance through the steel business Liberty Steel in February, announced the acquisition of Adhunik Metaliks and its arm Zion Steel for about Rs 425 crore.

Adhunik Metaliks was GFG Alliance’s first entry into India as the group was eyeing the Indian market for long after having failed to acquire Amtek Auto, ABG Shipyard and Bhushan Power through the insolvency and bankruptcy process.

“The Adhunik sites produce alloy steel products for the automotive, energy, engineering and oil & gas sectors besides participating in the commodity market of sponge iron and billets,” the company said in a statement.

The new management headed by Uday Gupta signed an agreement at the deputy labour commissioner’s office to employ local workers in the payroll of Adhunik when it stopped operation in August 2017, for which the company said it took on 1,500 local people in permanent and contractual roles to undergo vital and extensive maintenance and repairs works at the plants.

“Liberty Steel provided salaries to employees once they were fully deployed on the site and 50% salaries to those waiting to start work as part of the gradual restart,” Gupta said.

Adhunik is an integrated steel plant located in Odisha with a steel making capacity of 0.5 million tonne per annum. The plant has a sponge iron facility, blast furnace and electric arc furnace (EAF) with a ferro alloy plant and a 34MW captive power plant.

Adhunik along with Zion Steel’s steel rolling facility will have a combined capacity of 400,000 tonnes per annum. 

Source: Economictimes

 

• [Editor:kangmingfei]