Polish authorities plan to carry out a tender in mid-April to sell ISD Huta Czestochowa (HCz), a source close to the Polish heavy plate producer tells Kallanish.
This comes despite the fact Sunningwell International Polska’s 12-month lease of HCz does not expire until September. The investment firm signed an agreement to lease the plate mill in September 2019 and restarted production the following month (see Kallanish passim). It is expected to partake in the latest tender.
It is not clear whether Polish steelmaker Cognor or UK-based Liberty House plan to participate, after both bid for the plate mill last year when it was seeking an investor following its insolvency. Metinvest, itself a producer of plate in neighbouring Ukraine, has also been touted as a potential investor. The situation has, however, been complicated by the outbreak of Covid-19. None of the three firms responded to requests for comment before deadline.
The Czestochowa district court, which last acted as HCz’s administrator, also did not respond to request for comment.
Electric arc furnace-based HCz has an 800,000 tonnes/year slab capacity and 1.2 million t/y capacity of heavy plate.
