The Liberty Galați steel mill in Romania received four offers, two from German Steel Mont and a company from Turkey for tolling (processing raw materials), and the other two for asset takeover, according to Ziarul Financiar.
“We are in discussions. Four offers have been submitted. Two for tolling, from Steel Mont and a company from Turkey, which want to bring the raw material, finance the processing, and sell the finished product. It is a temporary, palliative solution. Two other offers are for taking over the assets [and come] from local investors [from local businessman Dorinel Umbrărescu], and from a company from Ukraine,” Remus Borza, president of Euro Insol, the bankruptcy administrator, along with Sierra Quadrant, told Ziarul Financiar.
The Liberty Galați steel mill, formerly Sidex, entered into a preventive arrangement in March, and its restructuring plan was approved in August. Last month, prime minister Ilie Bolojan established an Interministerial Committee to protect the state’s interest at the Liberty steel mill and its tubular products factory, both controlled by Indian billionaire Sanjev Gupta.
According to market sources, the Ukrainian company that submitted the bid for Liberty Galați is the giant Metinvest (group of metallurgical and mining companies), controlled by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov.
Steel Mont has over 10 years of trading experience globally, trading finished and semi-finished steel products, as well as ores and other raw materials for the steel industry. On the other hand, Dorinel Umbrărescu is the entrepreneur who leads the largest construction companies on the local market, Spedition UMB, SA&PE Construct, and Tehnostrade.
Liberty Galați is owned by the Liberty Group, which is in turn owned by Indian-British investor Sanjeev Gupta. The company entered into a preventive arrangement in March to stabilise the business.
The Liberty Galați steel plant ended last year with a turnover of RON 2.1 billion (EUR 420 million), down from RON 3.6 billion the previous year and with losses of RON 1.6 billion (EUR 320 million), lower than the previous year. At the end of last year, the company had 4,900 employees.
The Galați plant, previously owned by ArcelorMittal, was acquired in early July 2019 by Sanjeev Gupta, along with six other important steel plants and five service centres in seven European countries.
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: the company)
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