Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta agrees on tax deal with HMRC as they withdraw winding-up petitions

The steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta has won another reprieve after agreeing a new deal with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to repay tens of millions of pounds of tax liabilities.

Sky News understands that HMRC has withdrawn a series of winding-up petitions against parts of Mr Gupta’s GFG Alliance conglomerate after a revised proposal was tabled by the businessman in recent days.

GFG declined to comment.

If the petitions had been successful, it could have forced some of Mr Gupta’s most important UK operations, including those at Hartlepool, Rotherham and Stockbridge, into administration, potentially affecting around 2,000 British industrial jobs.

Details of the arrangement reached between Mr Gupta and the tax authorities were unclear on Monday.

The tycoon has been fighting a rearguard action to keep GFG afloat for most of the last year following the collapse of Greensill Capital, its main lender.

He originally sought £170m from the government to stave off the group’s collapse, but the plea was rejected by ministers.

News of the deal with HMRC comes just days after it emerged that Mr Gupta was considering whether and how to unwind GFG’s commercial ties to Gazprom, the Russian energy giant.

Read more: The companies that have pulled out of Russia this week

Marble Power, a division of the Gupta family’s GFG Alliance conglomerate, is reviewing its contracts with Gazprom in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A number of British companies, including British Land, the landlord to Gazprom’s global trading arm in London, and Centrica, which has a gas supply contract with the Russian group, have said in recent days that they are seeking to end those arrangements.

An HMRC spokesperson said: “We have a strong track record of taking a supportive approach when it comes to viable businesses.

“We don’t comment on identifiable taxpayers.”