A Passage To India

After a global acquisition spree, British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta is looking to buy at least four distressed Indian companies.

- Debabrata Das

SOME CALL HIM A takeover tycoon. And they aren’t exaggerating. India-born British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta has bought more than 200 ailing industrial units in the U.K., the U.S., and Australia, and given them the kiss of life. “For me, distressed assets are like diamonds in the rough,” Gupta, executive chairman of British consortium GFG Alliance, tells Fortune India. “In life, if you find something that is undervalued and you bring value to it, that is the most exciting thing for me.”

Gupta, a self-made industrialist dubbed ‘Man of Steel’ in a BBC documentary, should know. He began his trading career from his college dorm when he founded Liberty House as a commodities business in 1992 while he was a student at Cambridge University. He first shot to prominence in turned around over the past five years.

Now, 46-year-old Gupta has set his eyes on India. His company Liberty House, a part of GFG Alliance, has submitted bids for four distressed Indian firms: steel companies Bhushan Power and Steel and Adhunik Metaliks, auto parts maker Amtek Auto, and ship builder ABG Shipyard. He is also in talks with two more steel firms, which he refused to name.

2013 when he bought a troubled steel mill in South Wales, and then went on to build a business empire largely by buying out many rusty old steelworks as he went on a multi-million dollar global acquisition spree. Today, his GFG Alliance—whose portfolio includes metal, engineering, real estate, and power generation operations—largely consists of troubled assets across 30 countries which it has bagged and