ArcelorMittal, agreement with Liberty House for the sale of the Galati plant

ArcelorMittal announced that it has received an irrevocable offer from Liberty House Group for the acquisition of ArcelorMittal Galati, ArcelorMittal Ostrava (Czech Republic), ArcelorMittal Skopje (Macedonia) and ArcelorMittal Piombino (Italy). The four units are part of the separation package that the company agreed with the European Commission during. The investigation into the acquisition of Ilva S.p.A.

The completion of the acquisition process of the divestment package consists of the plants in Ostrava, Galati, Skopje and Piombino. And it is conditional on the completion of the acquisition of the Ilva plant by Arcelor Mittal. Also, the approval of the European Union as well as the conclusions of the consultations with the employee councils at local and European level.

Liberty House, part of the GFC Alliance, is an international group based in the UK. Being controlled by the industrialist of Indian origin Sanjeev Gupta, specialized in the production of steel and aluminum. But also with important trade operations and raw materials, as well as metal recycling. The Alliance has a staff of about 14,000 people. And a turnover that exceeds 15 billion dollars.

After the acquisition of ArcelorMittal Galati, Liberty House intends to increase production

„Our goal is to increase the annual production from about 2 million tons per year to 3 million tons. And this involves investments in the primary production of steel and in the production of hot-rolled coils. The increase in production above the value of 3 million tons per year will be taken into account in the future. In addition, we want to offer the Galati plant the freedom to build its own markets. Where it can be competitive. Our target is to grow to 3 million tons per year in the next 3 to 4 years and only then consider ways we can grow above this level.” Jon Bolton (CEO Liberty Steel, Director of Global Steel Development at Liberty House Group) told ZF.

The Jefferies Financial Group estimates that ArcelorMittal would cost between $725 million and $940 million. ArcelorMittal Galati (formerly Sidex Galati) is the largest steel plant in Romania. It was bought by LNM Holdings NV in November 2001, from the Romanian state. The value of the transaction was 70 million dollars. After the merger between Mittal Steel and Arcelor, in 2006, which resulted in ArcelorMittal, the name of the plant was changed to ArcelorMittal Galati.