Liberty Steel's British plants will not close “under my watch”, the firm's boss claimed today as he stepped up pleas for a Government bailout.
Sanjeev Gupta said that while he was “not waiting” for a rescue package, “all help is welcome”.
Three thousand jobs are threatened at 11 UK sites after the company's main lender, Greensill Capital, collapsed.
Ministers have rejected Liberty's bid for a £170million rescue deal, fearing the money will be moved around the Gupta Family Group Alliance, which has businesses overseas.
Mr Gupta insisted “the future of the steel industry is very strong in the UK” as he confirmed he was battling to arrange emergency funding.
“I'm very confident that we will find short-term solutions through our efforts and we will find long-term solutions through refinancing,” he told the BBC.
“I am committed to my UK steel plants, I started here, I believe in them, they have a great future. We have saved thousands of jobs here.” He added: “None of my steel plants, under my watch, will be shut down, that's for sure.”
The British arm could “benefit from more working capital” and a “huge amount of backers” were interested in backing Liberty, he claimed.
“We aren't waiting for anybody, we are taking matters into our own hands,” said Mr Gupta.
“I'm not waiting for anybody to come to the rescue – we will help ourselves, but of course all help from everybody is always welcome.”
His business model of buying ailing mills has come under fire as Liberty is mired in jeopardy.
Experts have criticised the company for turning to Greensill – a supply chain financier – to support purchases. Admitting he owed a “substantial” amount to Greensill, Mr Gupta revealed it was “many billions”.
But he added: “We have bought plant after plant which was either shut or shutting – in those situations we cannot access normal, conventional funding.” Buying and running his UK plants had been “a tough journey” and “a labour of love”, said Mr Gupta.
Community steelworkers' union operations director Alasdair McDiarmid said “developments have been very concerning”.
He added: “Of course we want the Government to put some money into Liberty Steel but the reality is no government is going to write out a cheque for £170m without getting some pretty strong assurances about how and where that money is going to be used.
"It seems the Business Department had concerns the money could disappear into the GFG group and of course it's not going to help our steelworkers if taxpayers' money ends up supporting Liberty operations in eastern Europe or Australia, or being sucked up by predators.”
He said it would be “unthinkable” for Liberty's plants to shut, adding: “We hope that efforts to refinance the business will succeed. The stakes are high.”
