Steel Mills
ArcelorMittal European Assets Approved for Sale to Liberty Steel
Written by Sandy Williams
April 17, 2019
ArcelorMittal received approval from the European Commission to sell several of its European steelmaking assets to Liberty House Group. The sale is part of a divestment agreement made by ArcelorMittal with the Commission to acquire the Italian steel mill Ilva.
Included in the transaction is ArcelorMittal Ostrava (Czech Republic), ArcelorMittal Galati (Romania), ArcelorMittal Skopje (Macedonia), ArcelorMittal Piombino (Italy), ArcelorMittal Dudelange (Luxembourg) and several finishing lines at ArcelorMittal Liège (Belgium).
Liberty House and GFG Alliance executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta said the assets will increase the company’s rolling capacity by 8 million metric tons for an annual production of 15 million tons.
“We are delighted that the EU has validated Liberty as a suitable buyer for these European steel assets. This will make us the third largest steel producer in Europe. We are an ambitious and aspirational group and we keep breaking boundaries,” said Gupta in a press release.
Liberty Steel is part of the GFG Alliance founded and owned by the British Gupta family. GFG plans to integrate most of its Liberty Steel and engineering and mining businesses into a single global entity, with assets in the UK, Europe and Australia.
The planned merger and integration will make Liberty Steel one of the world’s top 10 steel producers outside of China. Liberty is targeting an eventual production capacity of 20 million meric tons per year.
Said Gupta, “This combination will form a global champion with fully integrated capabilities, shipping iron ore and coking coal and semi-finished product from Australia to its manufacturing plants and mills globally with the target of becoming one of the largest and most competitive fully integrated steel and mining producers in the world, from raw materials to high-value finished goods.”
The transaction with ArcelorMittal is expected to close before the end of the first half of 2019.
Sandy Williams
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