The Peoria County Board is expected to vote this week on one step in a process that could lead to Liberty Steel & Wire relocating its company headquarters to the Peoria area.
Liberty is seeking a $2.65 million loan from a county fund used for economic development to purchase equipment for the headquarters transition to the company's facility in Bartonville from Texas.
“Our internal loan review committee, which has financial individuals, bankers and others on it, has reviewed all their materials and has done a deep dive on their financials, and has unanimously recommended approval to the county board,” said County Administrator Scott Sorrel.
Liberty is seeking $25 million in grant funding for capital improvements from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity [DCEO], spread over two years. Sorrel said the company also is seeking tax credits through the state’s Economic Development for a Growing Economy [EDGE] program.
However, requirements of this funding include maintaining the company headquarters in Illinois. Sorrel said other requirements include employing a minimum of 700 full-time equivalent workers and making a minimum capital investment of $40 million.
“So that they can comply with those new EDGE tax credit requirements from the state, they’re proposing to relocate their corporate headquarters from the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area to the Peoria area,” said Sorrel, adding that Liberty is the region’s second-largest manufacturing employer behind Caterpillar.
“But they don’t have anywhere near the number of employees,” he said. “Realistically, I don’t have the exact numbers, but we’re probably talking less than 20 individuals relocating.”
Still, Sorrel said Liberty relocating its headquarters to the Bartonville site would boost the area’s economy.
“Their direct and indirect economic impact in the Peoria region is $850 million a year, and if you look at it statewide, it’s just over a billion dollars of economic impact to Illinois on an annual basis,” he said.
“To be in a position to help a longstanding business who has been in our community for well over 100 years position themselves to continue to be competitive in the markets that they serve, to retain and grow the number of family earning manufacturing jobs, and then to see their corporate headquarters, regardless of the size, move to our community, it is a huge win for Peoria County and the Peoria region.”
Sorrel said the county fund that would supply the $2.65 million loan is named for Keystone Steel & Wire, a predecessor to Liberty that was issued county funding in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy. He said while the bankruptcy wasn’t avoided, the company emerged stronger and was able to repay the county loan in full.
Liberty Steel & Wire and it’s London-based parent company Liberty Steel Group are subsidiaries of GFG Alliance. Sanjeev Gupta, the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate, has been entangled in a host of legal issues in the UK, including criminal charges and ongoing investigations into possible fraud and money laundering.
“The local Liberty steel folks, when they started talking to us about a year ago, were very transparent about what the issues were at the highest level of the corporate level and that those levels don’t really have a whole lot to do with the day-to-day operations here in Bartonville,” said Sorrel. “So we were very aware of what those issues are, and we took that into account when we looked at their loan application.”
Following Liberty’s presentation to the county board’s executive committee earlier this month, the full board will vote on the loan request at it’s meeting Thursday. Sorrel said if the recommendation is approved, the county administration will begin preparing formal loan documents.
“We plan to close on the loan by the end of August, and this will be more of a traditional business development loan, where we’ll issue a check for the full amount at closing,” he said. "There will be a 10-year amortization schedule with regular principal and interest payments due to the county.”
He said a timeline on when Liberty would move the headquarters to Bartonville is not fully clear.
“It gets more tied to their application for the EDGE tax credits with the state of Illinois,” he said. “Their current plan is to try and file that application in approximately mid-September, and then Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has to do their due diligence and make a decision on the application.”
