Sanjeev Gupta shuffles InfraBuild leadership, appoints new CEO

afr.com:

The chief executive of a Spanish pipe manufacturer has been appointed as the new boss of InfraBuild, the local steel business regarded by analysts as the best performing asset in Sanjeev Gupta’s global GFG Alliance.

Francisco Irazusta will start in October, taking over from Dak Patel who will stay on the company’s board when he steps away from his day-to-day role.

Francisco Irazusta has been hired as the new CEO of InfraBuild, the Australian steel business which is part of Sanjeev Gupta’s global GFG Alliance operations. 

Mr Patel returned to the top job at InfraBuild in October after the departure of Vik Bansal, who became the chief executive of Boral, where the billionaire Stokes family holds 73 per cent. Mr Bansal ran InfraBuild for 15 months. Mr Patel departed the first time around from InfraBuild in mid-2021.

Mr Irazusta will join InfraBuild from Spanish seamless pipe manufacturer and distributor Tubos Reunidos, where he was based in Bilbao.

Mr Irazusta is familiar with the Australasian manufacturing and construction scene, having previously been a divisional executive and interim chief executive at building products group Fletcher Building.  Fletcher is listed on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges.

Infrabuild is the second-largest steel manufacturing business in Australia behind the ASX-listed BlueScope. InfraBuild runs two electric arc furnaces in Sydney and Melbourne, 10 manufacturing mills on the eastern seaboard, and a national network of steel distribution sites and recycling operations.

Mr Gupta’s GFG Alliance employs 35,000 people around the world. GFG has been under significant regulatory pressure in Britain, where the Serious Fraud Office is investigating suspected fraud relating to “the