Arcelor Mittal to hive off German plant
Global steel maker Arcelor Mittal on Wednesday said it will sell its German steel plant to a Spanish company for 591 million euro as part of commitments to address anti-trust concerns of European regulators.
The world’s largest steel company will sell Stahlwerk Thringen GmbH (SWT) Long Steel Carbon plant to Spain’s Grupo Alfonso Gallardo for an enterprise value of Euro 591 million.
The sale is the first in a series of three similar deals to be carried out by Mittal Steel as it had earlier committed to European Commission during its 26 billion euro merger agreement with Arcelor earlier this year.
"Stahlwerk Thringen is a high quality facility and I am delighted that this transaction fully values its potential," Arcelor Mittal CFO Aditya Mittal said in a statement.
Grupo Alfonso Gallardo is Spain’s largest corrugated steel manufacturer with sales in excess of 2.3 billion euro in 2006. The privately-owned company operates steel plants in Spain and diversifies in cement production and oil refining.
The transaction for Thringen, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Arcelor Mittal, would close in early 2007, subject to EC approval and applicable anti-trust clearances.
In 2005, the company’s turnover was more than 400 million euro and has a production capacity of one million tonnes.
Following Mittal Steel’s bid for Arcelor, the EC had identified competition concerns. In response, the company committed to dispose of three European mills, including Stahlwerk Thringen. The other two are in Italy and Poland.
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