Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty House Group, which has been investing heavily to revitalise the steel industry in the UK and internationally, has now signalled its intention to expand its aluminium footprint across the globe.

Liberty built substantially on its existing aluminium assets including casting, machining, forming, design and development when it acquired UK’s last aluminium smelter at Lochaber in Scotland from Rio Tinto in 2016. At the same time, it relaunched the iconic Liberty British Aluminium brand and began a programme to develop a portfolio of industrial assets at the site, including a plant that will make two million alloy wheels a year for the UK automotive sector.

Liberty has now appointed prominent and highly-experienced US aluminium executive, Matt Powell, to work on a worldwide programme of acquisitions and new business developments in the aluminium sector based on the same sustainable model as Liberty’s steel business. He will work with Liberty’s existing aluminium team, including managing director Lochaber operations, Brian King.

Matt Powell, a well-regarded figure with 23 years’ international experience in the aluminium industry, has held senior commercial and operational positions in the USA, Asia and Europe.

Much of his career was spent with leading international enterprise, Century Aluminium, where he was vice-president of North American and Asian operations and global business development and commercial services director, having previously managed major aluminium installations in China, Singapore, Iceland and the USA and overseen growth programmes which boosted sales by hundreds of millions of dollars.

He explained that Liberty aims to make major progress with its global aluminium plan over the next 18 months. “I am very positive about the future of aluminium, particularly in sectors like automotive and aerospace where they are looking for lighter materials with the required strength that will deliver increasing fuel efficiency. There are some exciting opportunities out there for a company like Liberty, which has a strategic focus and a strong implementation plan, to step in and really make a difference.  I feel energised and very excited about this new challenge,” he said.

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of Liberty House said that the Group’s aluminium and steel businesses would complement each other and that recycling and the use of renewable energy would play a large part in its strategies for both metals.

He added: “We have been very fortunate to secure the services of someone of Matt’s calibre to help our growth in the aluminium sector. He has a rare combination of senior operational, financial and acquisitions experience in the industry so he is the ideal person for this role.”