voda schreef op 25 januari 2023 09:11:
JSW Steel, ArcelorMittal & NLMK Eying Liberty Liege’s Plants
Strategic Research Institute
Published on :
25 Jan, 2023, 4:54 am
Paper Jam reported that 3 steelmakers are analyzing the possibility of buying Liberty Steel's sites in Liège in Belgium while activity at the Dudelange plant is still at a standstill. The report said “JSW Steel, ArcelorMittal and NLMK are said to be analyzing the possibility of taking over the activities of Liberty Liège’s Flémalle & Tilleur plants.”
Regarding the recovery of steel sites, little information has filtered. According to L'Écho, only JSW has officially applied to acquire. ArcelorMittal has not yet commented on the case. The operation promises to be complex all the same in terms of competition on the European markets.
Placed under judicial reorganization procedure by the courts for more than a month, Liberty Liège still employs 550 people on the banks of the Meuse and the Belgian authorities are doing everything possible to avoid its bankruptcy.
According to the newspaper L'Écho, the Walloon Region is considering granting a loan of EUR 7 million to the steelmaker in order to avoid a lack of liquidity, which would lead to bankruptcy and the immediate end of the judicial reorganization. This loan should also be covered fairly quickly by the sale of a building to the Prayon group, a specialist in the field of phosphate chemistry, looking for an office in the same area in order to consolidate its activities. Estimated amount of the operation is EUR 8.5 million.
Liberty Steel’s Belgium-based assets include a series of lines for packaging steel located in Tilleur and two hot-dip galvanising lines located in Flemalle. The units can produce up to 1 million tonnes per year of hot-dip galvanized coil and 200,000 tonnes per year of packaging products. They were acquired by Liberty from ArcelorMittal in 2019.
Liberty Steel also controls HDG capacity in neighboring Luxembourg. These lines, located in Dudelange, remain temporary idled but are not officially for sale.