Polish financial investor in talks to acquire steel mills in Romania: source

Warsaw-based financial firm Sunningwell International Polska is in discussions to acquire several billet, rebar and wire mills in Romania, a source at one of the targeted assets told S&P Global Platts Thursday.

The mills eyed by Sunningwell are galvanized wire producer Ductil Steel Buzau and billet casting and rebar rolling plant COS Targoviste, the source said.

Sunningwell wasn’t immediately available for comment on the matter.

Targoviste is capable of casting 45,000 mt/month of billet. This includes around 20,000 mt/month of spare capacity: the plant’s own rerolling rebar mill can process about half of in-house billet. The spare tonnage is supposed to be shipped to Ductil Buzau to feed its wire operations. Both plants are expected to resume production in March, provided Sunningwell seals a takeover agreement.

Sunningwell has already committed to and made a partial payment towards the purchase of Laminorul Braila, the Romanian producer of bulb flats used predominantly in shipbuilding, according to a mill source. The mill has made 5,000 mt of the product since its restart under Sunningwell management in late 2019.

In October, Sunningwell was granted a 12-month lease for Polish plate producer Huta Czestochowa and restarted operations at the mill the following month. The investor also had plans to attempt to acquire Huta in ownership nearer its lease’s expiration date.

— Ekaterina Bouckley