According to sources familiar with the matter, there is currently only one offer on the table, from British fund Greybull, for the French plants located in Hagondange, Custines, Saint-Etienne, and the Leffrinckoucke-based les Dunes unit in the north.
Acciaierie Vente, Sidenor, and France’s Europlasma were among the steel companies that had initially submitted offers to acquire the units but have since withdrawn. Marcegaglia acquired Ascometal’s Fos-sur-Mer site in the south of France in May and has intentions to convert it into a coil production plant (see Kallanish 3 June). If the Greybull offer fails to meet the requirements, the tribunal may opt for a liquidation process, Kallanish notes.
Greybull plans to make investments and foster collaboration between the plants, specifically Hagondange and les Dunes. With the goal of diversifying production and expanding sales, the fund plans to install a new ingot line in Hagondange and revamp the rolling mill in Les Dune. This will help reduce the sites’ reliance on the automotive sector, reveal the Ascometal trade unions. Greybull plans to finance the investments through debt, Kallanish understands.
In March, Ascometal, part of Swiss Steel was declared insolvent and went into receivership after the proposed sale of its units to Italian long steel producer Acciaierie Venete was terminated (see Kallanish 28 March).
Greybull acquired what is today known as British Steel from Tata Steel in 2016 but the steelmaker then went into administration in 2019 before it was bought by Jingye Group. Greybull was also reported interested in buying the Ascoval plant and Hayange rail mill from Liberty in 2021, although they were ultimately acquired by Saarstahl.
Greybull did not comment before press deadline.
Natalia Capra France
