London-based GFG Alliance (www.gfgalliance.com), through its industrial business Liberty House Group, has won its bid to acquire two vehicle component suppliers in France.

Following rulings by the Courts of Administration in Lyon and Poitiers, Liberty has become the owner of Saint Jean Industries Poitou and Fonderie du Poitou Fonte, thereby securing over 600 of jobs dependent on them.

As a result of the rulings, GFG can now implement its recovery plan for the plants, including a refreshed order book, the introduction of its LMOS (Liberty Manufacturing Operating System), investments in equipment and improvements in
maintenance.

The businesses will now be known as Liberty Engineering Poitou, incorporating Liberty Aluminium Technologies Poitou and Liberty Cast Products Poitou.

The acquisitions are an extension of GFG’s strategy of enlarging and diversifying its presence in the French industrial sector.

They also fit its strategy of acquiring assets that give it a platform to deliver growth in the future of Green Drive Trains — used in electric vehicles — which will require ever-increasing amounts of aluminium.

These businesses enter GFG’s French portfolio alongside France’s second-largest vehicle converter (Durisotti), France’s only manufacturer of aluminium wheels (now Liberty Wheels France) and Europe’s largest aluminium smelter
(Liberty Aluminium Dunkerque).

Douglas Dawson, chief executive of Liberty Industries Group, said: “This is a great day for both companies and for our group.

“Moreover, it is a great result for the workers, who I am delighted to be welcoming to the GFG family and our growing portfolio of French businesses.

“We have been clear from the outset just how important the French market is for us, and the acquisition of these specialist automotive suppliers is strategically very significant, as we look to expand first domestically and then further afield while also adding value and safeguarding jobs and skills.”