The European Commission has approved the acquisition of sole control of ISD Dunaferr and ISD Kokszoló by Liberty Steel, Kallanish notes from a Commission notice.
The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the companies’ limited market positions resulting from the proposed transaction. The notified transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.
Liberty won the auction in June to acquire insolvent Hungarian steelmaker Dunaferr (see Kallanish passim). Earlier in the year, it had signed a short-term management contract to keep the plant operating after it ran out of working capital and raw materials.
Last month, Liberty and China’s CISDI Engineering Co. signed an agreement with the Hungarian Ministry of Economic Development to develop a decarbonisation pathway shifting Dunaferr from coal-based steelmaking to electric arc furnace technology. This will see the installation of a new 150-tonne capacity EAF to be supplied by CISDI.
Adam Smith Poland