All operative parts of insolvent German steel distributor Remag have been sold now as the remaining parts – the distribution units in Nuremberg and Soest – have been taken over by Anaj Trade, a sister company of Indian trading house Steel Mont.
Florian Dausend, managing partner at Cornelius Treuhand, the company managing the sale of Remag, told S&P Global Platts that Steel Mont’s takeover was completed in April, but only included the flat steel part of the business. Steel Mont also has offices in Duesseldorf.
As previously reported, German distributor and rebar fabricator Suelzle acquired Remag’s Hagmeyer steel service centers in Geislingen and bending and processing works in Goeppingen, as well as its rebar distributor BTM Muenchen and the company’s Stahl Ehrenfriedersdorf site for flat and long products earlier this year.
Dausend said the diverse portfolio of the company made it difficult to sell it as a whole.
“We were flexible during the investor process and offered the group as a whole as well as single entities. The M&A process was therefore open in regards to the outcome. In that sense there has not been a target that there would be a sale as a whole only. In the end, there has not been an offer made for that,” he said.
The search for financial investors was difficult, said Dausend, as steel companies such as Remag would be currently not attractive for them.
Remag traded 200,000 mt/year of steel products and was mainly active in the southern parts of Germany.
The company applied for insolvency in October last year following uncertainties with a trade credit insurer over the credit limits that made it difficult to pursue refinancing for 2018. Market sources told Platts that due to this issue, some deals could not be done.
Laura Varriale, PLATTS
