London’s industrial and metals company Liberty House Group announced the recent acquisition of aluminium automotive parts makers Amtek Aluminium Castings (Witham) Limited and King Automotive Systems Limited (Amtek UK).
The deal, which saves over 500 jobs in the immediate area, was completed with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), who was in possession of the firms as an administrator, for a sum not disclosed at the time of the announcement.
Amtek UK operates two plants in the West-Midlands area and a third in Witham, all of which produce aluminium die castings sold to major automakers in the United Kingdom and Europe. It also conducts processes including machining, assembly, and testing of parts used in engines and powertrain components.
“Despite current challenges, this operation is a valuable asset and a vital part of the UK and EU automotive supply chain,” explained Liberty Group’s executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta. “We are very pleased to use our resources and extensive experience in the automotive sector to rescue this enterprise and enable it to recover and reach its true potential.”
“We greatly value the specialist skills of the workforce and we will be working closely with them and with key customers to get the business back on a sound footing,” he concluded.
Liberty House gained a foothold in the area in November when it closed a deal in conjunction with sister corporation SIMEC Group to purchase the former Alcan smelter from Rio Tinto for £330 million. The plant’s new owners said at the time that plans for the facilities included adding an automotive parts plant adjacent to the smelter, creating six hundred new jobs along the way. Subsequent announcements made by Liberty House increased the number of new jobs to over two thousand.