Steel business with headquarters in Willenhall enters administration
A steel business with its headquarters in Willenhall has entered administration.
The Manchester office of business consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal is handling the administration of Aartee Bright Bar, which has its head office at Planetary Road.
A worker, who did not wish to be named, said the workforce had been told to leave the premises.
Aartee, previously Acenta, has its origins as George Gadd in Tipton in 1865.
The bright bar business was established in the 1940s bringing together four businesses.
It became Aartee Bright Bar in 2021 after being bought by Aartee Group in 2018. It includes a hot rolled bars division at Peartree Lane, Dudley, and a distribution arm with sites in Rugby, Manchester, Southampton, Sunderland and Newport, South Wales. Processing is carried out at Willenhall.
ABB, which employs 250, is a customer of steel producer Liberty Steel which is being tipped as a potential buyer of its assets.
Liberty's owner Sanjeev Gupta. is reported to have close ties to Ravi Trehan, Aartee's founder, while Greensill Capital, the controversial supply chain finance group which collapsed in 2021, is said to have financed a number of trades between the two.
Michael Magnay, joint administrator at A&M, said: "Like many businesses in its sector, Aartree Bright Bar has been facing significant headwinds as a result of the challenging economic environment and fluctuating steel prices.
"Against this backdrop, Administrators have been appointed and we are exploring the options available to preserve value."
