UK-based Liberty Steel to buy three more of Lakshmi Mittal’s European plants
UK-based Liberty Steel, part of Indian-origin tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s global GFG Alliance, on Friday announced a conditional agreement to buy three additional European steel plants being sold by NRI steel billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal’s ArcelorMittal. The company said it will acquire two Belgian steel mills and one in Luxembourg from ArcelorMittal in addition to the four. It said last month it would be acquiring in the Czech Republic, Romania, Macedonia and Italy. Both deals are subject to approval by the European Commission and other local processes, including the conclusion of information consultations with local and European Works Councils. Liberty said it has struck a conditional agreement to buy the Flemalle and Tilleur sites, which employ a total of around 700 people near Liege, Belgium, and the 300-people Dudelange, Luxembourg facility. “These are high quality, landmark assets with skilled and experienced workforces that we are looking forward to welcoming into the worldwide GFG fold,” said GFG Alliance executive chairman Gupta. “Our aim will be to develop close working relationships with respective governments, trade unions and other local stakeholders in Belgium and Luxembourg to optimise and improve the value of these historic assets that are important for the regional and national economies,” he said. The three mills, serving the construction, industrial and automotive markets, have a combined annual manufacturing capacity of 2.1m tonnes of cold rolled steel, 2m tonnes of galvanised steel, and 200 Ktons of tin-plated steel. Liberty said it is committed to retaining the jobs across the Liege and Dudelange sites.
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