Commodities tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance said in a statement on Monday that it remained the largest creditor in Australia’s Whyalla Steelworks at A$536 million ($333.23 million).
South Australia’s state premier put Whyalla into administration for unpaid bills on February 19 and said he wants to help develop lower carbon steel production in the state. GFG said at the time it was seeking advice on its options. The South Australian government placed OneSteel into administration over concerns about underinvestment in the Whyalla steelworks and GFG’s financial stability.
The Whyalla Steelworks incurred losses of nearly $320 million over seven months before being placed into administration by the South Australian government, with its total debts exceeding $1.3 billion.
Over the last 12 months, the privately held conglomerate’s steel unit, Infrabuild, has extended customer pre-payments to Whyalla, while the steelworks has also obtained working capital loans from Tahmoor Coal, GFG said in a statement.
According to Reuters, a spokeswoman reported that a capital raising for the Tahmoor mine is still going ahead.