
Greybull acquires Ascometal
UK investment group Greybull Capital has been awarded France-based Ascometal’s four plants, which are currently facing insolvency, the Strasbourg administrative tribunal has ruled.
According to the ruling document obtained by Kallanish, the steelmaker will officially become part of Greybull on 20 July. Sources close to the matter say the French government will provide a €45 million ($43m) loan to the new company this year and €40m next year to support its relaunch. €90m will be injected by the buyer.
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Europlasma were among the steel companies that had initially submitted offers to acquire the units but have since withdrawn. The Greybull offer is for the plants located in Hagondange, Custines, Saint-Etienne, and the Leffrinckoucke-based les Dunes unit in the north. 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).
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, the Ascometal trade unions have said. 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