The Gupta family, which controls commodities, energy and industrial interests worldwide has appointed Jay Hambro as a senior member of its Group management team.

Hambro, 41, who has been executive chairman of Sino-Russian Hong Kong exchange-listed industrial commodities champion IRC since 2010, is a well-known figure in the international mining and commodities industry. He joins the Guptas’ Group Strategic Board as Group chief investment officer and chief executive officer of Simec (Shipping, Industrials, Mining, Energy & Commodities) Energy & Mining Divisions, spearheading the ambitious global development plans of the business.

The Gupta family, which owns two international commodity and industrial groups, Simec and Liberty House, has been undertaking major investments in recent months including the purchase of Uskmouth Power Station and reactivation of the Liberty Steel rolling mill, both in South Wales, and the acquisition of most of the former Caparo steel and engineering businesses in the UK West Midlands. Hambro’s primary role will focus on the aggressive worldwide development of Simec, which currently includes a power generating arm and a global portfolio of trading operations focused on the resources sector.

One of his immediate roles will be to lead the completion of the purchase of the Tungsten Bank which Gupta family interests recently entered into an agreement to acquire, as part of its broader strategy to invest in finance for the commodities industry. This is subject to the approval of the Prudential Regulation Authority.

After graduating in business management, Hambro began his career in resource finance with NM Rothschild & Sons, before moving to the investment bank of HSBC, advising multinational mining groups. He then joined what is now the Petropavlovsk plc group in a business development role and later as chief investment officer before spearheading the development of their industrial commodity divisions as Aricom (FTSE listed) and more recently at IRC Limited.