Liberty House Enters into a Deal with Arcelor Mittal to Buy its Four Steel Plants in Europe

According to Mining News Pro -The deal includes the sale of the biggest steel plant in Romania, ArcelorMittal Galati and three other plants, ArcelorMittal Ostrava (Czech Republic), ArcelorMittal Skopje (Macedonia) and ArcelorMittal Piombino (Italy).

This deal of four plants is subject to approval by the European Commission and other local processes including the conclusion of information consultations with local and European Works Councils.

The four assets are part of a divestment package that ArcelorMittal agreed with the European Commission (EU) in order to clear its way to buy Italian steel company Ilva SpA. ArcelorMittal had bagged Ilva from the Italian government last year, in a deal amounting to 1.8 billion Euros. JSW Steel was also interested in buying the plant which is the biggest by output in the continent.

However, the European Union (EU) antitrust regulators were concerned that the acquisition would reduce competition in some flat carbon steel products and result in higher prices in southern Italy. This resulted in Arcelor Mittal deciding to sell off a large capacity to allay the regulators` worries.

The four facilities will together add 8 MnT rolling capacity to Liberty House and take it to 15 MnT a year giving Liberty House the ability to supply a full range of finished steels including plate, hot rolled coil, cold rolled coil, galvanized sheet, tin plate, bar, wire rod, and rail. These plants serve domestic and wider European markets, including automotive, construction, industrial machinery and oil and gas sectors.

In the Indian market, Liberty House has stormed India’s corporate world with audacious bids for debt-laden companies that were being auctioned as part of bankruptcy proceedings. The company has already bagged Amtek Auto and Adhunik Metaliks under the insolvency law and has put in the binding bid for Bhushan Power and Steel which is still awaiting a final order. As per the market reports, the company has also submitted an Expression of Interest (EoI) for two of Uttam Galva Steels` debt-ridden subsidiaries - Uttam Value Steels and Uttam Galva Metallics.