The aluminum foundry in Dunkirk (North) is a rarity in France: a profitable factory. “Unlike the friends of the Fonderie du Poitou, so far we are safe, because again last year, we made 15 million euros in profits, while the price of aluminum had fallen and ‘there was the Covid’, explains Laurent Geeraert, CGT secretary of the company’s social and economic committee.
The price of this metal has since rebounded and the chains are running at full speed. However, concern dominates among the 630 employees. “We fear that our investments may be cut this year if money is needed up there. “
“Up there” is the top of a pyramid made up of interlocking holding companies, from Dunkirk to Luxembourg, via the Netherlands and Dubai, some of the companies in the GFG constellation ( Gupta Family Group) Alliance of Indo-British businessman Sanjeev Gupta. It is currently fighting to avoid the bankruptcy that has threatened since its main financial backer, Greensill Capital, filed for bankruptcy on March 8. For the past month, Mr. Gupta has desperately sought cash to stay afloat.
The world plunged into the perilous financial arrangement which enabled it to acquire the North foundry in December 2018. Nothing illegal, but a significant risk for the factory if the house of cards ended up collapsing. A precarious set-up, which illustrates the aggressive financing techniques systematically used by Mr. Gupta to build at forced march a key player in steel and aluminum.
Tangle of holdings
Where to start ? The structure maybe. To buy Aluminum Dunkerque, it was not a subsidiary that was created by GFG Alliance, but a tangle of holding companies, companies that fit together like Russian dolls, with names so close that you get lost quickly. Let us try to walk together. At the bottom, Liberty Aluminum Dunkerque SAS (since renamed Alvance Aluminum Dunkerque) and its little sister, Liberty Aluminum Service SAS, located in Loon-Plage in the North, where the plant is located.
These two companies – the only ones to play an operational role – are owned by Liberty Industries France, headquartered in Paris. Which belongs to Liberty France Industries 2 SA, itself owned by Liberty France Industries 1 SA, both registered in Luxembourg. These are headed by Liberty France Industries BV: this holding company is incorporated under Dutch law, but it has the particularity of being managed from Dubai, where Mr. Gupta has his habits, and where he has been since Christmas 2020.
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