Administrators from PwC were appointed to 16 companies within the Caparo Industries Group, a Midlands and London headquartered diversified industrial group, on October 19.
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Billionaire Lord Paul’s Caparo Industries is the latest to be hit by the growing United Kingdom steel crisis as it announces closure of four of its units resulting in 452 job redundancies.
The job losses take the total cuts announced within Britain’s beleaguered steel industry to around 3,500 this year alone.
PwC is seeking to find buyers for other sections of the struggling firm that now employs more than 1,200 workers.
“It is with regret that we have made these decisions today, but the commercial prospects of the affected businesses render them unviable.” said Matt Hammond, Caparo’s lead administrator.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid held talks in Brussels on Wednesday to seek European Union support for steel companies.
In addition to steel, Caparo’s global business is also involved in product development, materials testing services, hotels, media, furniture and interior design, financial services, energy and private equity investment.
The news came as the government released new procurement guidelines to encourage the use of domestically-produced steel for British public projects such as HS2 and upgrades to the rail network.
The bulk of the cuts were made in the West Midlands, PwC said, adding that the affected staff would be paid until close of business on Friday and that the taxpayer would meet their redundancy payments.
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The Unite union said the closure of Caparo’s Darlaston factory near Wolverhampton was the second blow to manufacturing in the area after Goodyear announced the closure of its tyre-making plant in June with the loss of 300 jobs. Anna Soubry, who pledged last week to create a “level playing field” for the United Kingdom steel industry to compete against foreign rivals, said help would be offered to redundant Caparo workers.
