Acerinox gets green light to acquire VDM

Spanish-headquartered stainless steel producer Acerinox has received the green light from the European authorities to take full control of Germany’s VDM, a producer of specialty alloys, Kallanish notes.

The acquisition was first announced in November last year. Acerinox said that it had decided to buy VDM “… to create a world leader in both stainless and specialty alloys”. The two companies produce “… complementary products with similar end use”, Acerinox explained.

VDM has seven production plants located in Germany and the US, supported by four service centres.

In 2019 VDM produced and sold around 43,000 tonnes of products, up 7% from 2017. Sales amounted to €852 million, up 13% compared with 2017. 2019 results had been generally unchanged compared to those in 2018.

VDM’s output is of sophisticated niche products with high growth potential, Acerinox says. The Spanish company calculates that the demand in the specialty alloys market (excluding seamless tubes) has reached a level of over 310,000t globally in 2018, up 4% from 2010. VDM is the largest global supplier of these high-performance products, used mainly in the aerospace, oil and gas, nuclear, chemical and automotive industries.