Sapan Gupta is an attorney with nearly two decades of experience.
In a significant move for domestic in-house corporate lawyers, Sapan Gupta, the general counsel of Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) India and vice-president, Arcelor Mittal, has been elevated to the post of General Counsel at the Lakshmi Mittal-founded steel behemoth, according to an internal communication shared with company employees on March 29. Moneycontrol has reviewed a copy of the communication.
The General Counsel is the senior-most legal and compliance position in the group and will handle all the legal and compliance responsibilities related to the global activities of Arcelor Mittal which has a presence in 60 countries. According to the internal communication, Gupta is scheduled to take up the new assignment from June 1, 2021. The move comes weeks after Aditya Mittal was named as the CEO of the steel behemoth, with Lakshmi Mittal moving into the role of Executive Chairman.
In response to an email query from Moneycontrol, Arcelor Mittal confirmed the move and said Gupta would be moving to London. A replacement for Gupta would be found with a few weeks, the firm added.
Gupta is an attorney with nearly two decades of experience. According to his Linkedin profile, he joined AMNS (India) as general counsel in April 2020. Previously, he was a Partner and National Practice Head (Banking & Finance) at leading law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. He started his career with the Tata Group in 2000 and later had stints with ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and the Bajaj Group
(where he was chief legal officer at Bajaj Finserve). Gupta has also worked in the New York office of Sidley Austin LLP, a top US law firm and holds professional bar licenses to practice law in India and in the state of New York, USA.
He graduated from the University of Delhi with a degree in Commerce and also secured his LLB from the same institution. He was awarded his LLM at Harvard Law School and attended the London School of Economics and Political Science as a Chevening Gurukul Scholar.
A PEEK INTO ARCELOR MITTAL
In December 2019, ArcelorMittal announced that it had completed the acquisition of Essar Steel and formed a joint venture with Nippon Steel (AM/NS India) to own and operate the debt-ridden firm. Post a hard-fought victory under the insolvency and bankruptcy code, the apex court had approved the Rs 42,000 crore buyout in the previous month i.e November. Reportedly, it is also in the race for PSU Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd along with other Indian rivals.
ArcelorMittal is the world’s leading steel and mining company, with a footprint in 60 countries and primary steelmaking facilities in 17 countries. In 2020, it had revenues of $ 53.3 billion and crude steel production of 71.5 million metric tonnes, while iron ore production reached 58.0 million metric tonnes. ArcelorMittal is listed on the stock exchanges of New York (MT), Amsterdam (MT), Paris (MT), Luxembourg (MT) and on the Spanish stock exchanges of Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia (MTS).
