Belgian court rejects all Liberty rolling line bids

A Belgian court officially rejected at the end of last week the three bids received for the acquisition of Liberty’s three rolling mills in the country currently up for sale, Kallanish notes.

As previously reported, the three bids included one from ArcelorMittal – the former owner of the lines before their sale to Liberty – one from Liberty Galati and one from Marcegaglia and NLMK in consortium.

Local trade unions have voiced their support for Liberty Galati’s bid as this was the only one involving all the rolling mills in the country and preserving all jobs. The court nevertheless also rejected this offer.

There is now a concrete possibility that the rolling mills will be declared bankrupt. However, trade unions and local authorities are calling all interested parties to review their bids and continue negotiations to secure a future for the assets.

Liberty Steel’s Belgium-based assets include a series of lines for packaging steel located in Tilleur and two hot-dip galvanising lines located in Flemalle. The units can produce up to 1 million tonnes/year of hot-dip galvanized coil and 200,000 t/y of packaging products. They were acquired by Liberty from ArcelorMittal in 2019.

Emanuele Norsa Italy